The article incorrectly said that the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission had opened investigations into the death of Freddie Mac acting Chief Financial Officer David B. Kellermann. The FBI and the SEC, prompted by the apparent suicide, contacted Freddie Mac to see if there were any new developments related to financial issues already being investigated by authorities, according to two sources.
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Freddie Mac Official Spoke of Resigning
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"Our chief human resources executive spoke with David earlier this week and suggested David take some long-deserved time off with his family," said David Palombi, a Freddie Mac spokesman. "At no time was he asked to resign, and at no time was there any suggestion that his duties would be diminished."
Kellermann had worked his way up at Freddie Mac from a young financial analyst to one of the mortgage giant's main points of contact with its government overseers. He became acting chief financial officer last September after the government seized the firm. Kellermann was responsible for the company's financial controls, financial reporting, taxes, capital oversight and compliance with federal requirements.
Kellermann's body was found by his wife, Donna, in the basement of their home in the Hunter Mill Estates subdivision in Vienna, law enforcement sources said. He had hanged himself on a piece of exercise equipment, the sources said. There were no signs of foul play.
An autopsy was completed yesterday, and a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner's office said that "nothing suspicious was revealed." Nancy Bull, regional administrator for the medical examiner, said the cause and manner of death had not been finalized pending lab results, which could take several weeks. But she said there was nothing to contradict a finding of suicide.
Once a high-flying finance company, Freddie Mac has been transformed into a quasi-government agency, carrying out big parts of the Obama administration's housing recovery plan. Employees lost much of their money with the collapse of the company's stock and face uncertain job prospects in the long term.
Separately, the SEC and Justice Department have been investigating Freddie Mac's accounting, disclosure and corporate governance, the company said in an SEC filing. Sources said Kellermann was not a target of the probe by the U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria but was someone it wanted to question.
Staff writer Tom Jackman and staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.
