Ex-Fannie Mae Execs Charged Over Accounting Scandal

WASHINGTON – Former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Franklin Raines and two top lieutenants were charged with fraud in a civil suit filed yesterday by federal regulators in connection with the multi-billion dollar accounting scandal that has roiled the secondary mortgage market giant for the past three years. The suit, filed by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, seeks fines and the returns of millions of dollars in bonuses paid to Raines and former chief financial officer Timothy Howard and former controller Leanne Spencer. Raines and Howard were fired two years ago as the scandal was festering, when evidence emerged that Fannie cooked the books to please Wall Street analysts and to qualify top executives for millions of dollars in bonuses.