Justice Department drops inquiry into alleged Fannie Mae accounting fraud News
Justice Department drops inquiry into alleged Fannie Mae accounting fraud

[JURIST] Government-sponsored mortgage dealer Fannie Mae [Federal National Mortgage Association website] announced Thursday that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has discontinued its two-year investigation [press release] into alleged accounting violations, though criminal prosecutions could still be brought against individual employees. Fannie Mae was notified by the US Attorney for the District of Columbia [official website] that "it does not plan to file charges against the company."

In May, regulators at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) [official websites] announced a $400 million settlement [JURIST report] with Fannie Mae over alleged violations of the reporting and accounting provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 [text] and anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 [text]. Specifically, Fannie Mae was accused of fraudulently reporting future earnings so that top executives would receive maximum performance bonuses. MarketWatch has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.