Matt Levine, Columnist

People Really Didn't Like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

I've in the past been a little sneery about Fannie and Freddie's shareholders' efforts to sue their companies back from the government, but honestly that story is not unsympathetic.

February 19, 2014 at 10:27 PM UTC

By Matt Levine

Matt Levine is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, he was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; a clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit; and an editor of Dealbreaker.

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"Can the government commit securities fraud?"1is one question that is raised by Gretchen Morgenson's column about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this weekend. Fannie and Freddie seem to be having a cultural moment, with their hedge fund defenders -- Perry Capital, Pershing Square and, I guess, Fairholme 2 -- being joined by otherwise non-hedge-fundy types like Ralph Nader and Gretchen Morgenson to demand justice for Fannie and Freddie's shareholders, because I guess if anyone needs justice it's Fannie and Freddie shareholders.

The facts are long and convoluted but here is a mildly opinionated summary: