I'm Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Economics
Report.
Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance company, agreed this week to pay a fine of
four hundred million dollars. The United States government will get some of that
money. Most of it will go to shareholders.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight says top officers at
Fannie Mae created a false image of always meeting earnings targets. This let
them receive millions of dollars in extra pay.
The office released a report that deals with the
period from 1998 to 2004. It says former chief Franklin Raines set high
goals for earnings per share. Company officials then produced misleading
financial reports that gave the appearance of smooth growth.
The report says Mr. Raines received fifty-two million dollars in bonus
payments.
Mr. Raines says he never approved or knew about any violations of
accounting rules. And his replacement, Daniel Mudd, says Fannie Mae has "learned
some powerful lessons." Yet the report says Mr. Mudd did not fully
investigate concerns expressed by three employees.
Fannie Mae buys home loans from banks and other lenders. This
gives them money to lend for other purposes. Fannie Mae is a private company. It
began in 1938 as the Federal National Mortgage Association, created by
Congress.
To buy mortgages, Fannie Mae borrows huge amounts of money. In fact, it is
the second largest borrower in the world after the United States government.
Fannie Mae sells and trades investment products secured by mortgages. The
report says Fannie Mae sought to present itself as a very low-risk company when,
in fact, it was out of control. The report also says Fannie Mae officials tried
to slow the investigation through influence in Congress.
The civil fine is one of the largest ever in such a case. The settlement does
not require Fannie Mae to admit or deny wrongdoing. Under the agreement, Fannie
Mae will not add to its mortgage holdings without approval. And it must propose
a system of financial controls.
Fannie Mae has already been ordered to restate its earnings to correct for
accounting mistakes. These are currently estimated at about eleven thousand
million dollars.
Fannie Mae and a smaller company, Freddie Mac, control about half the home
loans in the nation. Three years ago, Freddie Mac reported five thousand million
dollars in accounting mistakes.
This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. I'm
Bob Doughty.
（來源：VOA 英語點津姍姍編輯）
