Freddie Mac Exec Found Dead At Home

David Kellermann, Acting Chief Financial Officer Of Embattled Mortgage Company, Dead In Apparent Suicide

(CBS/AP)  The chief financial officer of money-losing mortgage giant Freddie Mac was found dead in his basement early Wednesday morning in what police said was an apparent suicide.

David Kellermann, 41, apparently hung himself, said a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation. He asked not to be identified because the investigation was ongoing.

The body was found in the basement after police received a phone call at 4:48 a.m., reports CBS News producer Josh Gross. No official declaration of suicide will be made until the medical examiner has examined the body.

Kellermann's death is the latest in a string of blows to Freddie Mac since it was seized by the government last September. The company, which owns or guarantees about 13 million mortgages, has been criticized for financing risky loans that fueled the real estate bubble and are now defaulting at a record pace.

Freddie Mac lost more than $50 billion last year, and the Treasury Department has pumped in $45 billion to keep the company afloat. Last month, David Moffett, the government-appointed chief executive, resigned in frustration over strict oversight.

Kellermann worked for Freddie Mac more than 16 years, starting out as a financial analyst and auditor. He was named acting chief financial officer last September when the government ousted former CEO Richard Syron and Kellermann's predecessor Anthony S. "Buddy" Pizsel.

Neighbors said Kellermann had lost a noticeable amount of weight under the strain of the new job. Some neighbors said they suggested to Kellermann should quit to avoid the stress, but Kellermann responded that he wanted to help the company through its problems. The neighbors did not want to be quoted by name because they didn't want to upset the family.

As the company's financial chief, Kellermann oversaw a staff of about 500 and was working on the company's first-quarter financial report, due by the end of May. Federal regulators closely oversee the company's books and sign off on major decisions.

That relationship has been tense and stressful, with Kellermann working long hours, a colleague said. Freddie Mac executives recently battled with federal regulators over whether to disclose potential losses on mortgage securities tied to the Obama administration's housing plan, said a person familiar with the deliberations who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae have both come under fire from lawmakers because they plan to pay more than $210 million in bonuses through next year to give workers the incentive to stay in their jobs. Kellermann got $170,000 and was to receive another $680,000 over the next year.

Federal prosecutors in Virginia have been investigating Freddie Mac's business practices. But two U.S. law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the Freddie Mac investigation, said Kellermann was neither a target nor a subject of the investigation and had not been under law enforcement scrutiny.

Just last month, Freddie Mac granted Kellermann protection from any civil lawsuits, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

Kellermann is the latest figure in the financial meltdown to meet a tragic end, Attkisson reports. Police are also investigating a bizarre incident at a Maryland hotel this week in which a New York lawyer, accused of bilking investors out of millions, apparently killed his wife, two daughters and himself.

In December, money manager Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, slit his writs. A former Bear Stearns analyst jumped out a 29th story window, a hedge fund manager suffocated himself, and others facing collapsed fortunes took their own lives.

Police responded to an emergency call early Wednesday morning at the suburban Virginia home Kellermann shared with his wife Donna and 5-year-old daughter Grace.

Paul Unger, who lives across the street from the Kellermanns in the Hunter Mill Estates community in Fairfax County, called the family a "solid, salt-of-the-earth kind of family" that hosted the neighborhood's Halloween party. "He was just a nice guy ... You cannot imagine what kind of pressures he must have been under," Unger said.

Kellermann graduated from the University of Michigan. He later went to business school at George Washington University and started at Freddie Mac in 1992.

News of Kellermann's death came as a shock to employees of the McLean, Virginia-based company, with those who knew Kellermann tearing up on Wednesday morning and a quiet mood prevailing. Senior executives at the company heard the news on local radio before going to work.

Freddie Mac canceled a bond offering on Wednesday and top executives visited the family's home to offer condolences. John Koskinen, the company's interim chief executive, spoke to workers at an 11 a.m. staff meeting mourning Kellermann's loss, telling employees that they could use the company's counseling services and take time off if necessary.

In statement e-mailed to employees and the media, Koskinen called Kellermann "a man of great talents .... His extraordinary work ethic and integrity inspired all who worked with him."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement that "our deepest sympathies are with his family and his colleagues at Freddie Mac during this difficult time."

[Dgunner]

We turn the page.

[joule18]

AND, where is the story on janet napoltiano declaring that the 9/11 terrorists came into the US through Canada?? Where's that story? Are we sure she isn't biden in drag??
Posted by janem4 at 1:15 PM : Apr 23, 2009

AND, where is the story on Napolitano declaring illegal immigration is not a crime, but a "civil matter?" Last I checked it is a crime, yet this crime is overlooked as it brings many new voters to the Dems.

[joule18]

I don't believe this guy would have "checked out" without leaving a note for his family. If no note is found, I'd certainly be suspicious that this was not a suicide . . . maybe an "assisted" suicide.

[joule18]

How about the murder of the detective who interviewed the contractors who accessed the passport files of Obama, Hillary and McCain?

He probably found out information that was sensitive and had to die before the elections.

[joule18]

This person was the CFO. He did not authorize loans or make policy decisions. They are made b y the CEO.

I think he must have found something in his financial analysis that he wasn't supposed to and disclosed it to someone who took care of the matter.

[farmersdaughter]

Sounds fishy to me. I find it hard to believe that he would hang himself. Why not a gun or pills? Hanging is extremely heinous. I wonder if this is a crime by someone who knew something too scary that might have been revealed by this man.

[flakid82]

Why should the american people shed tears for this money hungry, power seeking , individual. He was happy at the top of his game, Watching thousands of peoples lives fall to ruins. People have shed enough tears and experienced hardships beon anyones imagination. Because of individuals like Mac, who did not care their actions has destroyed the American Dream for a lot of Americans. The tears that I cry are not for what has happen, rather than, what the American people have to do, and indure, the pain and hardship of watching their lives come to an end, in mental and physical sense. Fredie Mac should not rest in peace, nor should his life be celebrated. Rather, his life should be used as a symbol of greed.

[weedapeapl]

How difficult it will be for the rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. It would be much easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle.
Posted by daffy64 at 6:38 AM : Apr 23, 2009

Well said!

[weedapeapl]

If you want to know how the general public really reacted to the news about this "suicide", see the comments on the first stories from Fox News or msnbc (Newsvine).
Posted by WayAround at 8:33 PM : Apr 22, 2009

Links, please?

[daffy64]

How difficult it will be for the rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. It would be much easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle.

[daffy64]

It's sad when people would rather kill themselves than live without wealth. They make money their God and don't realize there's so much more to live for.

[Ladilin]

What a shame that this obviously respected and talented man felt he had to take his own life. Financial insecurity, mounting pressure and the problems caused by this are powerful contaminants in life. Sometimes it seems there is no way out, but to take his life is a sad course to take. Condolences to the family left behind.

[longtree-2009]

feelings of guilt are very powerful. what he felt guilty about, if at all, will remain a mystery. assuming terminal disease, unhappy marriage, and the usual are ruled out then all that is left is guilt about something. often wonder why people don't commit suicide somewhere besides where their family has to live. like why not find a tree somewhere away from it all or drive out to the country and walk far away from the family car and shoot yourself.

[tmittelstaed]

I feel sorry for the family, he should have turned his back and walked away, and lived to work another day.

Despite all the blame put on subprime loans, I know one family who had terrible credit due to medical bills back in 2003, got a subprime, got a home, then refinanced into a fixed mortgage in 2006, today they are working, paying their taxes and mortgage on time. Not all who got subprime loans ended up being screwed, they did do some good for some people.

[Dgunner]

We probably lost the best man of the entire group. Maybe someday we will know for sure?

[WayAround]

Well, given the media will never provide a list for us....

Some "suicides" during the current global financial crisis

September 25, 2008 Kirk Stephenson, chief operating officer at private equity firm Olivant, thrown under a train

December 4, 2008 Alex Widmer, CEO of Switzerland's largest private bank (Julius Baer), I can't find the method (it must not have been a convincing "suicide")

December 23, 2008 Thierry de la Villehuchet, founder of Access International Advisors, one slit wrist and sleeping pills

January 6, 2009 Adolf Merckle, one of the richest people in Germany, thrown under a train (Godfather, you're slipping; you usually prefer more variety to conceal your conspiracy)

January 6, 2009 Steven Good, CEO of one of America's largest real-estate auction firms (Sheldon Good & Co), gunshot (that's better)

April 23, 2009 David Kellermann, CFO of Freddie Mac, cause is under investigation

[ivehadit9]

Yep, shades of Vince Foster all over again, isn't it?
Posted by Rowdy106 at 6:39 PM : Apr 22, 2009
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yep, I remember that one too. Vincent Foster just wasn't fit for Washington life. The public attacks that were leveled at the Clintons added to the stress on Foster. He just took them personally.

Anyone with Washington experience knows that such attacks. whether justified or not, are part of the price one pays for accepting a job at the national level. You just ride them through and ignore it if it's unjustified. Vince Foster shouldn't have left Arkansas for a job as deputy counsel to President Clinton. Washington was just too fierce for him.

[rsmik]

One Enron exec shot himself in his Mercedes. This is not a good sign.
Posted by weedapeapl at 5:30 PM : Apr 22, 2009

Yah especially the For Sale sign in the rear window - real mess now

[gil600221]

1 crook down, 45,276,456 crooks left to go.......

[start99]

Guess he didnt want no one to find out he was up to something wrong.....cant face the guilt.....At least he will do no jail time....guess there will be more scrutiny in the company investigations......we werent born yesterday!!