Ginnie Mae Hired Fake CPA To Run $1.9 Trillion Portfolio

Officials at the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) hired a tax scofflaw with a resume including a false claim to be a certified public accountant (CPA) as chief financial officer (CFO) and put him in charge of a $1.5 trillion loan portfolio.

David Fender shirked his official duties and instead ran a government contracting company out of the government office building. He had just been fired from his previous job for running that contracting firm on company time, and Ginnie Mae officials knew it — and that he lied about it — when they hired him.

Ginnie Mae, an agency in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), left Fender at the helm from April, 2014, to April, 2015, even though it quickly became clear he was unqualified. He left Ginnie Mae’s finances in such disrepair that HUD’s inspector general said $6.6 billion couldn’t be audited.

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