Freddie Mac official found dead in apparent suicide
AP

WASHINGTON – David Kellermann, the acting chief financial officer of money-losing mortgage giant Freddie Mac was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in what police said was an apparent suicide.

The Fairfax County police responded to a 911-call at 4:48 a.m. at the suburban Virginia home Kellermann shared with his wife and a daughter. The police would not release the cause of death or say if a suicide note was found.

Kellermann, 41, lived in Hunter Mill Estates, a well-off neighborhood of large single-family homes with manicured lawns. County records show Kellermann's home is worth about $900,000.

Paul Unger, who lives across the street from the Kellermanns, called the family a "solid, salt-of-the-earth kind of family" that hosted the neighborhood's Halloween party. "He was just a nice guy ... You cannot imagine what kind of pressures he must have been under," Unger said.

Kellermann, a University of Michigan graduate who went to business school at George Washington University, worked for Freddie Mac for the past 16 years and was named acting chief financial officer last September when the government seized control of the company and ousted top executives. Freddie Mac lost more than $50 billion last year, and the government has pumped in $45 billion to keep the company afloat.

Kellermann's death is the latest in a string of blows to Freddie Mac, which owns or guarantees about 13 million mortgages and us the No. 2 mortgage finance company after sibling Fannie Mae. The company has been criticized for financing risky mortgage loans that fueled the real estate bubble, and its first government appointed CEO, David Moffett, resigned last month after six months on the job.

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.

News of Kellermann's death came as a shock to employees of the McLean, Va.-based company, with those who knew Kellermann tearing up on Wednesday morning and a quiet mood prevailing.

Early Wednesday, Sharon McHale, a Freddie Mac spokeswoman, said senior executives at the company heard the news on local radio before going to work. "It's just so awful," she said.

John Koskinen, the company's interim chief executive, said in a statement that Kellermann, "was a man of great talents .... His extraordinary work ethic and integrity inspired all who worked with him."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement that "our deepest sympathies are with his family and his colleagues at Freddie Mac during this difficult time."

Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae have both come under fire from lawmakers as they plan to pay more than $210 million in bonuses through next year to give workers the incentive to stay in their jobs. While Fannie Mae has disclosed the names of executives in line for the bonuses, Freddie Mac has yet to do so.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090422/ap_on_bi_ge/us_freddie_mac_official_dead

Do you really think it was suicide?....

It could be a government plot to take over the banking industry...... Oh wait, I think they already did that.

You are definitely right about that....

What i wanna know, is why was this guy under so much pressure if he knows the government will bail him out if he fails?

Nevertheless it does kinda sound like people are trying to distance themselves doesn't it?

Good post BTW...

There are enough suckers to believe it. The as$hole was offed because he had run out his useful service life.

Or in other words: "He had some large profile friends!".

Typically, this is how it works. His friend would place him in the position of the institution he had created for the purpose of stealing funds. Newly made director will then steal the funds for years and years, and faithfully deliver them to his highly placed friend. Finally, the director would be removed from the picture, before he talks.

So, while dumb think they are getting the benefit of an institution such as Freddie Mac, it really serves it actual, not explicit purpose.

I'm sure it will come out if this is true. There are few secrets in this world anymore.