Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees from two contracts he had with Freddie Mac (prior to its federal takeover), according to a report from Bloomberg.
The total amount is larger than the $300,000 payment from the GSE that Gingrich was asked about during a GOP presidential debate last week, and more than was disclosed in the middle of congressional investigations into the housing collapse.
The news organization said it based its reporting on “two people familiar with the arrangement.” Freddie became a ward of the government in Sept. 2008.
Gingrich's business relationship with Freddie spanned a period of eight years. When asked at the debate what he did to earn a $300,000 payment in 2006, the former speaker said he “offered them advice on precisely what they didn't do,” and warned the company that its lending practices were “insane.”
Gingrich's first contract with Freddie came in 1999, five months after he resigned from Congress and as House speaker, according to a GSE press release.
His primary contact inside the organization was Mitchell Delk, Freddie Mac's chief lobbyist. Bloomberg said he was paid a self- renewing, monthly retainer of $25,000 to $30,000 between May 1999 and 2002.
During that period, Gingrich consulted with Freddie executives on a program to expand home ownership, an idea Delk said he pitched to the Bush White House, Bloomberg reported.
For many years Delk was Freddie's chief lobbyist in Washington and staged at least 50 fund-raisers for congressional Republicans in the early 2000s as the company fought off attempts in Congress to bring it under increased federal regulation.
More than half the fund-raisers benefited lawmakers serving on House and Senate committees that oversaw Fannie and Freddie.Delk resigned in March 2004 amid an investigation by the Federal Elections Committee into alleged improprieties surrounding his political fundraising.
