Breaking News: SEC charges former execs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with fraud.

Friday, December 16th – CNN has reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission charged six former executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with securities fraud on Friday for misrepresenting their holdings of high-risk mortgage loans.

Included in the charges are former Freddie Mac executives – chief executive officer Daniel Mudd, chief risk officer Enrico Dallavecchia and executive vice president of single-family mortgage business Thomas Lund. The SEC is also targeting former Fannie Mae CEO Richard Syron, executive vice president and chief business officer Patricia Cook and executive vice president for the single family guarantee business Donald Bisenius.

The charges include the claims that each of the executives approved misleading statements that downplayed the size of their holdings of subprime loans and claimed their risky investments were minimal and manageable (which was false).

SEC attorney Andrew Stoltmann stated that “Fannie and Freddie were not innocent victims, but were major players in a game they helped design and develop. The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has cost American taxpayers in excess of $168 billion with potentially another $51 billion to come.”

Click here to read the full story on CNN Money.