Bill Pulte Said He Was Cracking Down on Fraud. Now He’s Firing the Investigators.
Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said last year that the agency, which oversees federal mortgage regulators Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, had launched a “wide crackdown on mortgage fraud.” That was never a persuasive claim. Pulte announced his campaign after drawing criticism for urging the Justice Department to prosecute officials […]
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director Bill Pulte claimed last year that his agency was aggressively cracking down on mortgage fraud. However, the alleged crackdown appears to be crumbling. On Wednesday, Pulte announced significant cuts to the office of the Inspector General at FHFA, an office responsible for investigating potential mortgage fraud and other crimes involving the government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The moves would eliminate around 40 investigators who have secured over 1,200 convictions and recovered nearly $75 billion in criminal cases, according to James Hodge, the Acting Principal Deputy Inspector General. In a press release, Pulte tried to justify the budget cuts by arguing they were more expensive per dollar spent than similar offices in other federal agencies.
However, this explanation failed to address how the layoffs would impact Pulte's supposed fight against mortgage fraud. Democrats in Congress, led by Senate Banking Committee members, have accused Pulte of trying to target political enemies and evade accountability, demanding that he rescind the cuts. Pulte's efforts to prioritize partisan grievances over law enforcement have been unsuccessful so far.
For instance, a civil case against New York Attorney General Letitia James was dismissed after a judge ruled that a Trump appointee who filed the case was not legally authorized to do so.
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