Freddie Mac CFO Found Dead of Apparent Suicide The acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac was found dead in his home Wednesday morning of an apparent suicide, Fairfax, Va., police have confirmed to FOX News.
FOXNews.com Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Kellermann, a 16-year veteran of the mortgage loan guarantor, was discovered by his wife, who found him in the basement. The two have a young daughter.
Fairfax police spokeswoman Mary Anne Jennings said police were called to the Northern Virginia home outside Washington, D.C., in the early morning hours. A call came in at 4:48 a.m. ET.
Kellermann, 41, was named acting chief financial officer in September 2008 and was a member of the company's leadership team reporting directly to CEO David M. Moffett, who resigned last month.
FOX Business Network confirmed that investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department have been questioning officials of Freddie Mac about possible accounting violations and other matters in recent months.
An SEC official told FOX Business Network that Kellermann had been involved in the company's accounting for many years but would not speculate on any connection between the investigation and Kellerman's death.
Doug Duvall, a spokesman for Freddie Mac, told FOX News that the company "knows of no connection between this personal tragedy and the ongoing regulatory inquiries discussed in our recent SEC filings."
Sources said Kellerman had a reputation at Freddie Mac as "the answer man."
"Kellermann was a behind-the-scenes guy who never showed up on anyone's radar until he was appointed (acting) CFO last September. He had a reputation of being a straight shooter with high ethical standards," said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, a mortgage trade publication that covers Freddie Mac.
Freddie Mac Interim CEO John Koskinen issued a statement Wednesday that the "Freddie Mac family is truly saddened" by the news.
"David was a man of great talents. ... His extraordinary work ethic and integrity inspired all who worked with him. But he will be most remembered for his affability, his personal warmth, his sense of humor and his quick wit. David was a friend to many in the Freddie Mac family, and we mourn his passing," Koskinen said.
According to his biographical information, as acting chief financial officer, Kellermann "is responsible for the company's financial controls, financial reporting, tax, capital oversight and compliance with the requirements" of congressional legislation known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. That law was a response to financial scandals like Enron and was intended to make corporate boards more accountable.
Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets by guaranteeing loans to what is now 3 million homebuyers. It has been in the center of the mortgage meltdown along with Fannie Mae, requiring $60 billion in federal funding to secure bad loans. The government took over the two government-sponsored enterprises in hopes of preventing further fallout.
Kellermann joined Freddie Mac in 1992, worked for several years in the company's securities sales and trading unit, and has served in a variety of positions, including as a vice president for strategy execution and integration and the Investments and Capital Markets division controller.
FOX Business Network's Peter Barnes contributed to this report.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
VIENNA, Virginia (CNN) -- The acting chief financial officer of mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac was found dead Wednesday morning at his home, police said.
David Kellermann, acting CFO of Freddie Mac, was found dead on Wednesday, police said.
David Kellermann was found dead of an apparent hanging, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.
The CFO must have something to be afraid of if he took his own life. Follow the money trail.
I disagree. He has been with this organization for 16 years. So he obviously saw it all. And I believe that Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae is the central culprit of corruption that has lead to our economic disaster. So Kellerman obviously saw and heard 'it all'. Perhaps he saw and heard and knew too much.
He has only been in this position for 6 months and only after his successor resigned. There has never been any 'exposed' proof of corruption. At 41 years old, what could have been any more threatening to him than to Barney Frank himself. No note?
Remember all the people who were found dead during the clinton's white water fiasco?
No suicide! IMHO
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Police investigating death of Freddie Mac official Police investigating death of senior Freddie Mac executive, dead of apparent suicide
By ALAN ZIBEL and MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Last updated: 6:35 a.m., Thursday, April 23, 2009
VIENNA, VA. -- The chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, one of the mortgage giants at the heart of the nation's financial meltdown, was found dead in his basement early Wednesday morning in what police said was an apparent suicide.
David Kellermann, 41, apparently hanged himself in his suburban Washington home, said a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation. He asked not to be identified because the investigation was ongoing.
Kellermann was promoted last September when the government seized the mortgage company and ousted its top two executives. Neighbors said Kellermann had lost a noticeable amount of weight under the strain of the new job. Some neighbors said they suggested to Kellermann should quit to avoid the stress, but Kellermann responded that he wanted to help the company through its problems. The neighbors did not want to be quoted by name because they didn't want to upset the family.
Kellermann oversaw a staff of about 500 at Freddie Mac's McLean, Va., headquarters and was working on the company's first-quarter financial report, due by the end of May. Federal regulators closely oversee the company's books and sign off on major decisions.
That relationship has been tense and stressful, with Kellermann working long hours, a colleague said. Freddie Mac executives recently battled with federal regulators over whether to disclose potential losses on mortgage securities tied to the Obama administration's housing plan, said a person familiar with the deliberations who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Freddie Mac, which owns or guarantees about 13 million mortgages, has been criticized for financing risky loans that fueled the real estate bubble and are now defaulting at a record pace. The company lost more than $50 billion last year, and the Treasury Department has pumped in $45 billion to keep the company afloat. Last month, David Moffett, the government-appointed chief executive, resigned in frustration over strict oversight.
Kellermann worked for Freddie Mac more than 16 years, starting out as a financial analyst and auditor.
Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae have both come under fire from lawmakers because they plan to pay more than $210 million in bonuses through next year to give workers the incentive to stay in their jobs. Kellermann got $170,000 and was to receive another $680,000 over the next year.
Federal prosecutors in Virginia have been investigating Freddie Mac's business practices. But two U.S. law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the Freddie Mac investigation, said Kellermann was neither a target nor a subject of the investigation and had not been under law enforcement scrutiny.
Stress took toll on Freddie Mac executive BY MATTHEW BARAKAT AND ALAN ZIBEL The Associated Press
McLEAN, Va. — By last fall, the heady days for mortgage giant Freddie Mac were over, and what was left for executives like David Kellermann were stressful days and long nights of picking up the pieces under the sharp scrutiny of regulators. After taking the role of acting chief financial officer when the government seized control of the company in September, Kellermann worked for several weeks alongside federal regulators known as “shadows,” who stood by executives’ sides at all times, questioning their calls and turning them over for government approval. Lately, the pressure seemed to be taking its toll. Neighbors said he’d lost weight. They began to suggest he should quit. Kellermann was found dead in his basement this week in an apparent suicide, only a day after speaking to a human resource officer at the company and arranging to take time off because he’d been working such long hours. After seven months of trying to help the company emerge from financial disaster, some close to him wonder if it was just too much for Kellermann to try and pick up the pieces. “If there was a reason it had to be the stress, the mounting stress and pressure of a company … he worked so hard to help and resurrect and make good,” said David Gorder, a movie producer living in Hollywood Hills, Calif., who was a fraternity brother of Kellermann’s when they studied together at the University of Michigan. “Maybe he kept it inside too much.” It can be mystery what makes people — even those seemingly successful — take their own lives. But Kellermann had clearly been under immense stress at Freddie Mac, which has dealt with an unceasing torrent of bad news that began six years ago, when an accounting scandal forced the resignation of two chief executives. Kellermann, 41, had risen through the ranks at Freddie Mac since beginning there as an accountant 16 years ago. Gorder, who shared an apartment with him when he fi rst started at the company, remembered how much he cherished the job. “He loved Freddie Mac to no end,” Gorder said. “I never met anyone so dedicated … to establish their career and excelling within the ranks of the company. He was enthralled with the work and being an accountant.” After the government’s takeover last fall, morale at Freddie Mac sunk, employees watched their company stock holdings all but evaporate. Workers remain confused about what the Obama adminstration plans to do with Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac, which owns or guarantees about 13 million mortgages, has been criticized for financing risky loans that fueled the real estate bubble and are now defaulting at a record pace. Last month, David Moffett, the government-appointed chief executive, resigned in frustration over strict oversight. The pressure in jobs like Kellermann’s was inescapable. As acting CFO, he oversaw a staff of about 500 at Freddie Mac’s headquarters in McLean and had been working on the company’s first-quarter financial report, due by the end of May. But he’d also been embroiled recently in a dispute between Freddie and the Securities and Exchange Commission over its financial reports, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the case. Freddie is also the subject of a criminal probe by federal prosecutors in Virginia, though there are no indications that Kellermann was considered a target. Freddie Mac lost more than...............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00903
One may be able to puchase their own 'never neverland', organic food, personal trainers, the best health care etc.....but money cant buy freedom from one's own mind/heart......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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