Suicide Suspected in Freddie Mac CFO Death

David Kellermann, the acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in what several media reports claim was an apparent suicide. Kellermann's wife reportedly told police his death was by suicide.

The 41-year-old had been with Freddie Mac for 16 years and was acting CFO since September—when the government nationalized it and the other government-sponsored enterprise that underwrote mortgage loans. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae traditionally bought more than half of all U.S. mortgages originated. By the time they were nationalized they had combined debts exceeding $1.5 trillion on the $5T in mortgages that they owned or guarantee.

Both agencies mandated automated underwriting of the mortgage loans they bought, but that technology, espoused to improve credit quality, was not equal to deeper systemic problems with loan originations and securitizations.

David Moffett, CEO of McClean, Va.-based Freddie Mac resigned last month.