Company Frauds So Terrible You Won’t Believe They Actually Happened

Scott CrokerBusiness22 Mar 2018

Freddie Mac Doesn’t Deny The Charges

Freddie Mac had to pay almost $200 million in fines for fraud in 2003

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In 2003, mortgage finance company Freddie Mac cleaned house after getting caught lying about earnings. In total, the company paid $50 million in order to settle federal fraud charges in relation to $5 billion of falsely reported earnings. The company was the nation’s second-largest buyer and guarantor of home mortgages at the time of the scandal.

After the settlement, Freddie Mac fired top executives David Glenn, Vaughn Clark, and Chairman of the Board Leland Brendsel. The company was also forced to pay a $125 million civil fine handed down by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which blamed management misconduct for fraudulent reporting.