Fannie and Freddie shareholders sue U.S. government for $41B

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders have filed a class action lawsuit against the U.S. government, alleging that the takeover of the government-sponsored enterprises was illegal and cost them billions, Bloomberg News reported.

The complaint, filed yesterday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, seeks $41 billion for the 2008 takeover of Fannie and Freddie by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The suit says that “while beneficial to the economic welfare of the nation, [the takeover] destroyed the value of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s common and preferred stock and trampled the private ownership rights” of shareholders, Bloomberg News said.

Seattle-based law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP filed the suit. [Bloomberg News] –-Guelda Voien