Fired Fannie Mae Investigators Probed Pulte’s Fraud Push

Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte’s crusade to root out mortgage fraud, including against some of President Donald Trump’s political opponents, made him a subject of scrutiny by an agency watchdog and cost investigators their jobs.

Fannie Mae’s ethics and investigation units pursued a probe over whether Pulte improperly acquired the mortgage records of several officials, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. A federal grand jury indicted James, who has called the allegations baseless, last month.

The investigations followed internal complaints alleging senior officials at the organization improperly asked workers to access the mortgage documents in question. Among the questions Fannie investigators were probing were the origin of the orders, if Pulte had the necessary authority to obtain the documents and if proper procedure was followed.

After the investigations, dozens of ethics and investigative staffers at Fannie were fired or pressured to step down. Pulte cited diversity, equity and inclusion for the layoffs, but he was also reportedly frustrated with investigations within the organization.

Pulte previously claimed to use tips and public records to support his mortgage fraud allegations.

The probe was elevated to the Office of Inspector General for the FHFA. The acting inspector general then gave the report to the U.S. attorney’s office in eastern Virginia, partially because it could be material to James’ defense, one of the people told the outlet.

The office is the same that brought the case against James under the authority of interim U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan, who Trump appointed the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in September after she served as his personal lawyer.

“The anonymous sources in this story are attempting to obstruct the criminal justice system by completely fabricating false and defamatory claims,” an FHFA spokesperson told the Journal in response to its reporting.

Pulte’s criminal fraud referrals extended to Sen. Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, both of whom are either adversaries of the president or conceivably stand in the way of his agenda. Neither has been charged and both deny the accusations.

— Holden Walter-Warner