Fannie, Freddie to Taxpayers: Pay Our Legal Bills

Monday, 24 Jan 2011 11:14 AM
By Forrest Jones

Mortgage finance giants Fannie and Freddie have asked taxpayers to pick up $160 million in legal fees owed during civil lawsuits, the New York Times reports.

The bulk of the money — $132 million — went to defend Fannie Mae in securities suits and government probes into accounting irregularities allegedly occurring before the subprime meltdown sparked the housing crisis.

The total bill could rise, the newspaper reports.

Randy Neugebauer, a Texas Republican and chairman of the oversight subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, has been looking into the Fannie and Freddie matter, requesting data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator in charge of overseeing the two companies.

“One of the things I feel very strongly about is we need to be doing everything we can to minimize any further exposure to the taxpayers associated with these companies,â€