Posted on 04/23/2009 8:19:38 AM PDT by khnyny
The pressures were already immense when David B. Kellermann was promoted to the top financial position at the mortgage giant Freddie Mac last September. Then they got even worse.
Mr. Kellermann’s boss and other top executives were ousted when the Treasury secretary seized Freddie Mac and its sibling company, Fannie Mae; others left on their own and were not replaced. Soon President Obama told the companies they were responsible for carrying out some of his programs to revive the economy, in addition to keeping the housing market afloat by buying and selling hundreds of thousands of mortgages a month.
Mr. Kellermann, 41, began working nonstop, sometimes returning home only to change clothes, colleagues say. He was losing weight and telling friends that it seemed impossible to appease everyone — regulators, lawmakers, investors and other executives — given their competing demands. Someone was always angry with him, he told one friend. And no matter how many hours everyone worked, it seemed as if the economy and homeowners were still slipping farther into the abyss.
Then early this month, Mr. Kellermann and other executives at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae became the focus of intense scrutiny when lawmakers learned they would receive bonuses totaling $210 million. Mr. Kellermann was set to receive $850,000 over 16 months. Reporters and camera crews showed up at his home in Vienna, an affluent Virginia suburb of Washington. Fearing that someone might attack his house, his wife or their 5-year-old daughter, he asked the company for a security detail.
Early on Wednesday, Mr. Kellermann went to the basement of his brick home and hanged himself, according to people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak. His body was removed five hours later, through a throng of neighbors, television crews and others.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Mr. Kellermann was also working in a poisonous political atmosphere. In addition to taking criticism over the bonuses, he was recently involved in tense conversations with the company’s federal regulator over its routine financial disclosures, according to people close to those discussions who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Freddie Mac executives wanted to emphasize to investors that they believed the company was being run to benefit the government, rather than shareholders.
I hope Barney Frank at least sends flowers to family of the deceased. It’s a crime that he’s still a Congressman.
“..Congresswoman”.
Fixed It.
ping
Believe you are right! It does fit the pattern of this Administration.
Also, conspicuously missing --> statements from Obambi and Barney Frank (who has known this guy for 16 years)
shrug...
Interesting, people surrounding Clinton suddenly started “disappearing” now it seems to be happening around ZERO... Hmmmmmm.....
This is NY Times spin. No way the pressure increased more recently. The guy was getting a retention bonus and he could have just quit. He knew something.
Fannie and Freddie are so corrupt but they are filled with Obama voters and slackers who have no clue. This guy could have quit if the pressure was so bad.
He knew too much. Who worked there? Was it Rahm or Gorelnick? Rahm worked at one and Gorelnick worked at another. I think Rahm was at Freddie.
O’s goons were just doing clean up. This guy knew too much.
Barakancide is the next generation.
True, but I remember a guy from Enron going out to a cul-de-sac near his house and offing himself... Ken Lay got sick and died... One way or another, it’s true, I ‘spect this guy had something to hide. Whether it was self-inflicted or other-inflicted, guess we’ll never know.
If he was worried about attacks on his family, the way to handle that was to shoot/hang oneself? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Sure, padding the old pocket under the table, the man was caught and knew it!
Rahm Emanuel was on the board of directors at Freddie.
I don't buy for a minute that he committed suicide. He was troubled and perhaps troubled enough to start talking. Welcome to the trial of dead bodies era, AGAIN.
Hmmm I'll always wonder if Hitlery has any regrets about Vince Foster and his fate ... . Was it worth it Hitlery?
No, we won’t know, except that the true crooks will skate as usual.
http://www.allthingsreform.org/2008/09/fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac-expose.html
I feel so sad for his 5-year old daughter and her mom. Why couldn’t he just resign if the pressure was unreasonable?
Do you forget the intimidation techniques used to silence persons who might testify against the Clinton administration? Slashed tires? Strangers asking about your missing/dead cat?” Saw your kid at school today wearing...”?
They didn’t just use intimidation, they bought off the testimony of some (like Monica Lewinsky who was paid to lie under oath).
Conspicuously absent from the NYT account —> wound from gunshot/gun as reported by ABC news yesterday.
Of course I could be wrong, but it seems to me that any man with a 5-year old daughter would find a different method of suicide. Would he risk having her find his body in the basement? Very unlikely, IMO.. For that matter, how did his wife happend to find him BEFORE DAWN anyway? Did she hear something that alarmed her? hmmm?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.