The acting CFO of Freddie Mac was found dead in his Fairfax, Virginia home this morning, apparently from suicide.
David Kellermann, 41, was the acting CFO of embattled Freddie Mac, and had been with the company since 1992. The former corporate controller and principal accounting officer, Kellermann was named acting CFO last September, the day after the company fired CFO Anthony S. Piszel, and the same day that the company announced that it was the target of two federal investigations — one by the Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division and one by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
There is no evidence that Kellermann was personally the subject of the SEC or U.S. Attorney investigations. On the day of his appointment to acting CFO, however, the company announced that the U.S. Attorney’s office subpoena sought documents relating to accounting, disclosure, and corporate governance matters dating back to Jan. 1, 2007. Freddie said it would cooperate with the probes. As controller and principal accounting officer, Kellermann’s primary responsibility, according to a company biography, was “to support the business with the production of timely, accurate, and well-controlled GAAP, fair value and segment earnings financial statements and external disclosures.”
The local television station, WUSA 9News Now, said Fairfax County Police went to Kellerman’s home at 5:00 a.m. after his wife reported that he had committed suicide. A police spokeswoman has since confirmed that police are investigating his death as a possible suicide.
Kellermann began his career at Freddie Mac as a financial analyst and auditor in 1992, worked for several years in the company’s securities sales and trading unit, and served in a variety of positions in the company’s capital markets division. He held an M.S. in finance from George Washington University and a B.S. in political science and accounting from the University of Michigan, according to his biography on the company website. Kellermann was also a volunteer board member of the D.C. Coalition for the Homeless.