Another Casualty Of The Housing Crisis?
Freddie Mac Acting CFO David Kellermann Found Dead
April 22 (Bloomberg) — Freddie Mac Acting Chief Financial Officer David Kellermann, 41, was found dead early today in his home in the Washington suburbs, police said.
There were no signs of foul play, and the death is under investigation, Fairfax County, Virginia, Police Officer Shelley Broderick said. Broderick said early reports from others in the department indicated Kellermann’s wife reported a suicide, though the cause of death hasn’t been determined.
“He was a hard worker, good guy and had a positive attitude,” said David Stevens, a former Freddie mortgage executive who left the company in 2005 and was recently nominated to run the Federal Housing Administration. “Either way, it’s a tragedy,” Stevens said, referring to the reports that the death may have been a suicide.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department have been questioning executives about Freddie’s accounting practices, according to company filings. McLean, Virginia-based Freddie and Washington-based Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance companies seized last year by U.S. regulators, reported in September that they were under investigation.
Kellermann, who joined Freddie in 1992, was promoted from controller to acting CFO after the government takeover in September, which was prompted by record losses amid the worst housing slump since the Great Depression. As controller, Kellermann was the principal accounting officer, dealing with financial statements and disclosures, according to Freddie’s Web site.
