| Page 3 of 3 < |
For Brendsel, Court Wait Is Almost Over
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
The government also accuses Brendsel of maintaining unjustifiably high "cookie jar" reserves that Freddie Mac could dip into as needed to meet earnings goals.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]A list of witnesses whom Brendsel's legal team plans to call suggests that Brendsel intends to take the stand to "deny all allegations" in the charges against him. Testimony by Andrews, the former Arthur Andersen global managing partner for audit and advisory services, will show that Freddie Mac and the audit firm "acted reasonably and in good faith," the witness list says.
OFHEO's witness list says Buffett, who sits of the board of The Washington Post Co., is expected to testify about his liquidation of about 60 million shares of Freddie Mac stock in 2000 and "any discussions he may have had" with Brendsel and other Freddie Mac executives "concerning earnings management and inappropriate accounting."
A spokeswoman for Buffett said he was unavailable for comment. A spokeswoman for Sallie Mae did not respond to an inquiry. Neither Brendsel nor members of his legal team returned calls. A spokeswoman for OFHEO declined to comment.
Some people appear on both sides' witness lists, including Glenn and former chief financial officer Vaughn Clarke. Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, Clarke recently settled a negligence case with the Securities and Exchange Commission and agreed to cooperate with OFHEO.
Brendsel's list says Clarke's testimony will show he believed the disputed accounting decisions were handled appropriately.
The government's list says Clarke is expected to testify "that his instruction to manage earnings came from Mr. Brendsel" and that Brendsel was involved in day-to-day decisions about transactions allegedly used to manipulate the company's financial results.
An attorney for Clarke did not return a call.
