Three members of Congress, led by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., have launched an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the firing of more than 100 Fannie Mae employees — many of whom are Indian American, according to the U.S. representatives.
The group of U.S. reps, which includes Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., sent a letter on April 9 to Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar and Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), expressing concern about a “potential lack of due process for the impacted employees.” They requested “an immediate explanation to better understand why their employment was terminated without thorough investigation and with no advance notice.”
In a separate press release, Subramanyam noted that most of the fired employees are Indian American and live in northern Virginia.
“It has been brought to my attention that Fannie Mae has accused hundreds of my constituents in the Indian American community of fraudulent behavior and fired them without conducting a full investigation or providing evidence,” Subramanyam wrote. “I have spoken with many of these employees in our community, and they deserve due process. Fannie Mae owes them, Congress and the American people an explanation immediately.”
In an April 9 interview on Fox News, Pulte asserted that some of the fired Fannie employees were making donations to an “internal company charity” and were “getting kickbacks.”
The letter sent to the FHFA and Fannie Mae leaders claimed that some of the employees were fired due to alleged violations of Fannie Mae’s matching gifts program.
“It is (our) understanding that the organizations to which these individuals donated were approved by Fannie Mae for inclusion in the matching gift program,” the letter stated. “Furthermore, most if not all of the donations made by terminated employees were to organizations linked to the Indian American community.”
The members of Congress concluded: “Based on the available evidence, we are concerned that participation in the matching gift program or donations to specific Indian American organizations may have been used as a pretext to make indiscriminate cuts to Fannie Mae’s workforce and to tarnish employees’ reputations with allegations of fraud without an investigation.”
According to the community engagement section of Fannie Mae’s website, the company encourages employees “to contribute to a cause or organization of their choice through employee giving.” It adds that “employees can double the financial impact of their eligible donations through our Matching Gifts program up to a maximum of $5,000 annually.”
The letter to FHFA and Fannie Mae requested that they respond in writing by April 14.
A spokesperson for Rep. Subramanyam told Scotsman Guide on Wednesday that neither the FHFA nor Fannie Mae has responded to the letter, despite the deadline.
The FHFA and Fannie Mae did not respond to Scotsman Guide’s requests for comment.
