FHFA

Fannie and Freddie Shareholders Sue FHFA and Treasury Department Over Payment of Profits to U.S. Government

Letter to Shareholders

On May 28, 2015, three Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the “Companies”) shareholders filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa against the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”), its director, and the U.S. Treasury Department in connection with FHFA’s agreement to pay all of the Companies’ profits to the Treasury on a quarterly basis (the “Net Worth Sweep”).  According to plaintiffs, the Net Worth Sweep would be all encompassing depriving the private shareholders of their profits forever.

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Fannie and Freddie Shareholders to US: 2008 Government Takeover of Mortgage Giants Good For the Country; Not So Much For Us

Can shareholders of a government-sponsored enterprise successfully challenge the constitutionality of a government takeover of the entity?  Shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will try to do so in a $41 billion class action filed against the United States in the Court of Federal Claims on June 10, 2013. Plaintiffs allege that even though the Federal Housing Finance Authority’s 2008 takeover of the mortgage giants benefited the nation as a whole, it harmed the companies’ shareholders and violated their constitutionally protected private ownership rights.

Congress established Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to expand the nation’s secondary mortgage market by increasing the availability of funds to finance mortgages and home ownership. The government operated Fannie and Freddie until 1968 and 1989, respectively, when the companies were reorganized as “government-sponsored enterprises,” or federally chartered private corporations. Since then, both companies have operated as shareholder-owned, publicly traded corporations. But in 2008, in the midst of the financial crisis, both companies were placed under the conservatorship of FHFA, pursuant to the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA).

Plaintiffs allege that prior to the 2008 takeover, the government adjusted the companies’ lending standards and capital restraints to encourage the companies to purchase a greater number of risky subprime securities. While this ultimately led to significant weaknesses in the companies’ portfolios, Plaintiffs contend that the companies nonetheless remained adequately capitalized and financially sound, and did not need the conservatorships. According to Plaintiffs, the government improperly bullied the companies’ boards into acquiescing in the takeover. READ MORE

What’s Up with HERA’s Statute of Limitations?

On May 4, 2012, the Southern District of New York denied in part, and granted in part UBS’s motion to dismiss the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (“FHFA”) federal securities and state law misrepresentation claims stemming from pre-2008 securitizations.  This opinion is noteworthy because of its analysis regarding the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008’s impact on the relevant statute of limitations.

In July 2011, FHFA, as Fannie Mae’s (“Fannie”) and Freddie Mac’s (“Freddie) federal conservator, sued UBS regarding $6.4 billion in residential mortgage-backed securities purchased by the two government sponsored entities between September of 2005 and August 2007.  FHFA alleged that UBS violated, inter alia, Sections 11, 12(a)(2), and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 (“33 Act”) by preparing and distributing offering documents which contained material misrepresentations regarding the securities underlying mortgage loans. READ MORE