In 2006 Fannie Mae was wracked by an accounting scandal. Regulators found a culture of corruption where management overstated earnings by $11 billion during the late 1990s and reaped huge bonuses for themselves.<ref>[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-05-24/business/0605240197_1_senior-management-manipulated-accounting-fannie-mae-executive-officer-franklin-raines `Arrogant and unethical': Fannie Mae to pay $400 million penalty,] Robert Manor, ''Chicago Tribune'', May 24, 2006.</ref> As Fannie Mae was taken into conservatorship in September 2008 it was reported [[Barack Obama]] received more than $126,000 in contributions from the [[government sponsored entity]], more than any other political candidate for office since 1989.<ref>[http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html Update: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Invest in Lawmakers], By Lindsay Renick Mayer, September 11, 2008. opensecrets.org</ref>
<br /><span>span</span>==Fannie Mae lowers guidelines for subprime borrowers 1999==
:''Main article:'' [[Community Reinvestment Act]]
In 1999 Fannie Mae lowered its underwriting guidelines to expand into the subprime lending market,<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending,] Steven A. Holmes, ''New York Times'', September 30, 1999.</ref> a widely held contributing factor to the [[Financial crisis of 2008|Financial crisis of 2007-08]].
==Collapse and conservatorship 2008==
:''Main article: [[Financial crisis of 2008]]
In 2007 and 2008, as the residential housing market experienced a sharp decline under the weight of widespread defaults by subprime borrowers, Fannie Mae suffered billions of dollars in losses. On September 6, 2008, Fannie Mae entered conservatorships overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the [[U.S. Treasury Department]] began to make substantial purchases of Fannie Mae's senior preferred stock. As of December 31, 2011, Treasury had committed over $183 billion to support Fannie Mae and [[Freddie Mac]].
Although it orginally originally was expected to be temporary, the conservatorships have been in place ever since, and there is no end in sight. FHFA estimates that, by the end of 2014, between $220 and $311 billion in financial support will have been drawn from the Treasury, and FHFA’s Acting Director has stated that taxpayers are unlikely to be fully repaid for their support.
==Cash contributions to political candidates1989 - 2008==The top three recipients of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae over the last two decades under current [[FEC]] reporting guidelines since 1989 were all Democrats. <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/22/white-house-fires-times-housing-meltdown-story/ White House Fires Back at Times Over Housing Meltdown Story] Fox News, December 22, 2008</ref> <br>
No.1 [[Connecticut]] Senator and former [[DNC]] Chairman [[Chris Dodd]] <br>
No.2 [[Illinois]] Senator and later President [[Barack Obama]] <br>