Wells Fargo-backed fintech Maxwell hires former Fannie Mae lawyer

Following its most recent fundraising round, mortgage fintech Maxwell announced the appointment of longtime mortgage policy expert Sonny Abbasi as general counsel.

Abbasi will oversee compliance and data protection for the Denver-based company, which offers a digital platform for small to midsize lenders.

Sonny Abbasi-Maxwell
Sonny Abbasi, general counsel at Maxwell

Abbasi’s appointment comes just after Maxwell announced it had raised $52.5 million in additional Series B funding earlier in the fourth quarter, consisting of $28.5 million in equity and $24 million in debt. Venture firm Fin VC and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital led the funding, Maxwell’s second cash raise in 2021, according to Crunchbase. In March, the company secured $16.3 million.

Founded in 2015, Maxwell representatives say the company has helped to generate over $150 billion in loan volume to date and it serves more than 300 business clients nationwide. Earlier this year, the company introduced Maxwell Capital, a secondary market investing unit. In the last three years, the size of Maxwell’s staff has grown 14 times to approximately 300.

Abbasi begins his new position “at an inflection point of scale” for Maxwell, according to co-founder and CEO John Paasonen. The firm is continuing to expand its leadership as it moves to its next phase, he said.

“With his wealth of experience in regulation and compliance across the mortgage lifecycle, Sonny will be instrumental in helping us deliver powerful solutions to the needs of lenders across America’s communities,” Paasonen said.

Abbasi comes to Maxwell from mortgage-banking consultancy Lenderworks, where he served as general counsel and chief compliance officer for the past six years. Previously, he spent over a decade at Fannie Mae, first as an associate general counsel and later as director of mortgage-backed securities policy. Abbasi later joined The Structured Finance Group in Washington as its director of mortgage policy. He began his legal career with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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