SEC sues former Fannie and Freddie execs

At least they're going after someone - although not the real architects of the disaster - for losing so much on sub prime mortgage securities that they had to be taken over by the Feds.

Reuters:

U.S. securities regulators sued six former executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Friday, including ex-CEOs of both mortgage finance companies, saying they misled investors over exposure to risky home loans.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued three former executives at Fannie Mae and three at Freddie Mac. The civil charges were brought in two separate lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The SEC accused former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd, former Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron and four other defendants of knowingly approving false statements to investors that drastically misrepresented the extent of the firms' exposure to toxic mortgages.

Spokesmen for Mudd and Syron did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The SEC said both firms have agreed to cooperate with the agency and have agreed to admit responsibility for the alleged conduct, without agreeing or denying that they are liable. The firms have also entered into non-prosecution agreements with the agency, the SEC said.

The total bill for the taxpayers so far is a whopping $169 billion. And they're going to need more - at least $6 billion now and more later.

Obama chum Franklin Raines, who worked on the president-elect's transition team and who ran Fannie Mae when it was piling up all that bad paper, is not named in the suit, although he probably should be. Nor are some directors and members of congress named in the suit either.

The SEC has chosen two sacrificial lambs to take the fall.