Secret Plan to Buy Freddie Mac Is the Focus of Lobbyist Lawsuits

Two senior lobbyists for the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco pushed a long-shot idea for ending U.S. control of mortgage giant Freddie Mac -- a problem that’s bedeviled Washington for more than a decade.

The proposal, pitched behind closed doors in 2016 by Lawrence H. Parks and Timothy Simons, called for federal home loan banks to buy Freddie using cash windfalls they won in settlements with Wall Street after the financial crisis. The plan was quickly tabled but got revived in 2017 when President Donald Trump took office and top administration officials made clear they wanted the ...