Court Orders Justice Dept. to Release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Documents
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The Freddie Mac headquarters in McLean, Va. In August 2012, just as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were turning around, the government diverted the companies’ profits to the Treasury. CreditAndrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Casting a ray of sunlight on a case that has been shrouded in secrecy, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday that the government must produce a raft of documents to plaintiffs suing over its decision to seize all the profits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants that were put into conservatorship in September 2008, at the depths of the financial crisis.
The case against the government was brought in 2013 by Fairholme Funds, a mutual fund that owns shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Its lawyers contend that the government’s surprise decision to divert the companies’ profits to the United States Treasury in August 2012, just as the companies were turning around, was an illegal seizure of private property…
Court Orders Justice Dept. to Release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Documents
