Fannie, Freddie, Lehman And AIG Part Of F.B.I. Investigation
Four of the firms at the heart of the nation’s growing financial crisis - Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, American International Group (AIG) and Lehman Brothers - are now the subject of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) for potentially committing acts of fraud. The investigation is addition to a number of other probes being conducted by the F.B.I. in connection with the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.
Few details have been released regarding the F.B.I.’s investigation into Fannie, Freddie, Lehman and AIG, but reportedly the focus is on whether executives at those companies deliberately misled the financial markets about the health of their respective businesses.
Earlier in the month, Lehman’s chief executive officer, Richard Fuld, and AIG CEO Robert Willumstad received notice to testify before the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in early October over the events leading up to the bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers and the government bailout of AIG.
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke remain embroiled in a battle with lawmakers over the government’s $700 billion emergency rescue plan for the nation’s ailing financial system. In the second day of answering questions on Capitol Hill, both men continued to meet resistance to the bail-out plan, which would give the federal government the green light to buy up billions of dollars in subprime-related debt from financial institutions.
Our affiliation of securities lawyers is actively involved in advising individual and institutional investors in evaluating their legal options when confronted with subprime and other mortgage-related investment losses.
