Shock has been expressed as the chief financial officer of giant US mortgage lender and guarantor Freddie Mac, was found dead near his Washington home yesterday morning.
It is thought that the 41 year old executive, David Kellermann, committed suicide.
Police were called to the house at 5am by Mr Kellermann’s wife, who told officers that he had killed himself. Police have said there were “no signs of foul play.”
Mr Kellermann had been at Freddie Mac for over sixteen years, and was made acting chief financial officer when the lender was taken over by the Government in September 2008. He also took on the role of senior vice president at the company, and had worked as the principal accounting officer.
Freddie Mac and its partner company, Fannie Mae, made a $108 billion loss last year on bad mortgages. The lending giants were seized by the US Government following concerns that they would collapse.
In recent months, the Securities and Exchange Commissions and the Justice Department have been investigating Freddie Mac over possible accounting violations, amongst other matters.
The Government-appointed chief executive at the lender, David Moffett, resigned after only five months at the job, highlighting the stress that senior executives were under.
Freddie Mac Interim CEO, John Koskinen, has expressed his condolences to Mr Kellermann’s family, praising the executive’s work ethic and integrity and saying he would be remembered for his “affability, his personal warmth, his sense of humour and his quick wit.”
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