A Fannie Mae lawyer who helped spearhead the agency’s investigation into rooting out mortgage fraud is on his way out.
Jeff Goodman, a deputy general counsel and a senior vice president at Fannie Mae, oversaw the coordination of legal advice and counseling for the firm’s multifamily business. Goodman was also involved in the agency’s investigation into suspect mortgage deals.
Goodman was the one who sent out the now-infamous note to lenders in early 2024, warning them about doing business with Madison Title and Riverside Abstract. The title agencies were named in a Department of Justice press release announcing a guilty plea by investor Boruch Drillman. (Madison was recently released from Fannie’s blacklist).
There is now a long list of businesses and real estate players who ended up under investigation by Fannie for various roles in suspect deals where borrowers inflated rents of purchase prices in order to obtain larger loans from lenders. (Neither was accused of any criminal wrongdoing.) Fannie warned it had over $700 million in exposure to just eight sponsors engaged in shady deals in early 2024, according to one email.
Goodman is still employed by Fannie, but is planning to leave the agency, according to sources familiar with the matter. His bio is still listed on Fannie’s website.
An email to Goodman returned with an automatic reply directing all inquiries to Kimberley Wiecke, who is a senior manager at Fannie’s legal department.
Fannie declined to comment, citing its policy not to comment on personnel matters.
Goodman’s impending departure follows other key exits within Fannie’s multifamily division. The Real Deal previously reported that Rob Levin, the head of multifamily customer engagement, and Dan Dresser, the vice president of multifamily capital markets and pricing, are planning to depart. Kim Betancourt, a top economist for Fannie who oversaw multifamily economics and strategic research, has also left the company.
The moves come during a larger shakeup at Fannie and Freddie Mac under new Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte. Three days after he was sworn in, Pulte appointed himself chairman of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and removed 14 board members at the agencies.
Fannie and Freddie do not originate loans, but instead buy residential mortgages from private lenders and securitize them to sell to investors.
Pulte said during a first-quarter earnings call with Fannie that he sees opportunities to “trim fat,” “turn the business around,” and “generate more earnings.”
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