Detailed by The AP (and first reported by the Wall Street Journal), Fannie Mae experienced a leadership shakeup in mid-October after a senior executive shared confidential mortgage-pricing and lender-level data with Freddie Mac.
- The data was shared by Lauren Smith, head of marketing at Fannie Mae, as a confidant of Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and chairman of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The data disclosure was flagged internally by senior Fannie Mae officials including Danielle McCoy, Fannie Mae’s former general counsel, saying it should “never be shared” and “could put the company at risk.”
- In addition to McCoy, two other senior Fannie Mae officials on an email chain who questioned the exchange are no longer working for Fannie Mae:
- Priscilla Almodovar, former CEO; and
- Malloy Evans, former Senior Vice President, Single-Family Mortgage Division.
John Roscoe, who served as Fannie Mae’s Executive Vice President of Public Relations and Operations, is now serving as Co-President and Peter Akwaboah, who was Chief Operating Officer, has been named Acting CEO.
Separately, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Jack Reed (D-RI) wrote a letter to President Trump regarding the removal of Mr. John “Joe” Allen as the Acting Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). They say:
“The removal of the Acting Inspector General adds to the cloud of uncertainty hanging over FHFA, which, under Director William J. “Bill” Pulte, has operated in a highly partisan and legally questionable fashion.”
