Another Probe-Related Firing at Freddie

Freddie Mac has fired a mid-level official, believed to be a senior trader, in regard to its earnings restatement scandal, MortgageWire has learned.To date, this brings the number of employees fired as part of the company's widening internal probe to more than 10. A source familiar with the matter said the firing occurred on Thursday, but this could not be confirmed. A Freddie Mac spokeswoman would neither confirm nor deny the firing, but read from a company statement that noted the hiring of the Baker Botts law firm earlier this year to investigate allegations of accounting improprieties at the government-sponsored enterprise. "After release of the law firm's report, the company asked Baker Botts to look at employees whose activities are discussed in the report and to consider those activities in light of corporate policies and procedures that were in place at the time," the statement said. "After careful consideration of the findings of that review, the management of Freddie Mac took a variety of personnel actions and communicated those to affected employees. These actions bring to an end the company's review of employee conduct related to the accounting errors."