Pulte ousts 100+ at Fannie Mae over ethics breach

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it has fired more than 100 employees from Fannie Mae over unethical conduct.

"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," said Bill Pulte, FHFA director, in a press release. 

The brief release had no additional details, or whether the update was related to a recent Times of India report alleging that 700 Fannie Mae employees had been recently fired. Those reports alleged layoffs were related to misuse of Fannie Mae's "matching grants program."

Fannie Mae CEO and president Priscilla Amodovar in a statement thanked Pulte for his actions. The FHFA did not provide additional details.

Tuesday's announcement was made in Pulte's capacity as chairman of Fannie Mae, a role that has come under scrutiny from some Democrats who question the legality of his dual position as both the company's regulator and board chair.

Pulte later Tuesday posted on X that the FHFA had reduced its own workforce by 25%.

The news follows posts by Pulte on X yesterday stating that bloat and excessive spending at the government-sponsored enterprises was ending. The language echoes the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency's ethos to slash costs across the government, although the FHFA hasn't said if DOGE is operating at its offices. 

Since his March 21 confirmation, Pulte has acted quickly at the FHFA, posting 12 orders via X that rescinded Biden-era actions and past advisory efforts in an effort to deregulate the industry. Pulte yesterday claimed to eradicate $9 million in diversity, equity and inclusion spending at Freddie Mac, and $6.4 million in "climate and DEI" spending at Fannie Mae.

The director in a separate X post Monday alluded to GSE employees returning to the office and suggested there were career opportunities at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In a Fox News appearance last month, Pulte claimed a small fraction of 2,900 Fannie Mae employees were working in the office.

Pulte Monday also claimed he cut several Obama and Biden-era regulations that were hurting housing affordability, but had not provided additional information.