Ex-fannie Mae Employees Accuse Leadership Of Defamation In New Lawsuit

Dozens of former employees are suing Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte, Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar and the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) for defamation, alleging they were wrongfully linked to fraud after being fired in April over donations made through a charitable program.

The two lawsuits — filed Monday in Virginia’s Fairfax County Circuit Court by 41 former employees — cite public comments by Pulte on X and in media interviews, as well as statements from Almodovar in a news release, alleging the terminations were tied to fraud. The plaintiffs said these claims are false.

FHFA and Fannie Mae did not immediately respond to HousingWire’s requests for comment.

“In fact, Plaintiffs were all employees in good standing with Fannie Mae and had never received any form of disciplinary action during their tenure with the company,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants had no information on which to reasonably rely that any of the Plaintiffs committed unethical conduct or received kickbacks.” 

“No evidence has been presented to validate the claims of fraud made by Pulte, Almodovar and Fannie Mae.” Milton C. Johns of Executive Law Partners PLLC, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said in a statement:

These are the second and third lawsuits tied to the case. In late July, the group filed a discrimination complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 

According to the lawsuit, more than 80 employees received an email on April 2 from human resources instructing them not to report to the office and instead join a call. That’s when they were informed they were being terminated “for cause” for violating Fannie Mae’s “Charitable Giving” policy.

On April 9, Pulte posted on X: “Since my swearing-in, we fired over 100 employees from Fannie Mae who we caught engaging in unethical conduct, including facilitating fraud, against our great company. Anyone who commits fraud against Fannie Mae does so against the American people.”

The following day, he told Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle” that “we also found that they were making donations to the charity and then getting kickbacks — the internal company charity.” 

The lawsuit also cites Almodovar’s statement in a news release thanking Pulte for “empowering Fannie Mae to root out unethical conduct, including anyone facilitating fraud.”

The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages of at least $1 million and punitive damages of $350,000, plus 6% annual interest, until the judgment is satisfied. They are also demanding a jury trial.