Whistle-Blowing at Fannie Mae

Last Thursday's Wall Street Journal recounted the saga of an ex-Fannie Mae manager, Thomas Inman. He believes he is a 'whistle-blower,' reporting his former employer's failure to acknowledge his findings of accounting inaccuracies.

The company, however, has a different story. Several other employees explained that Inman 'uncovered' some items which were already known. Furthermore, it appears that these other items were the focus of other teams, not the one to which Inman was tasked.

It's impossible to tell from the article who is right, Fannie Mae or Inman. However, Inman was dismissed from the company after just six months. Again, it's hard to tell who is telling the truth, or, perhaps, the truth as they see it, even from this.

What struck me about this story was how familiar it is. Haven't we all known someone in a company in which we worked who seemed to be a bit too passionate and concerned about areas with which they were only tangentially involved? People who seemed to be on a crusade about something, even if it wasn't their actual job? Maybe even losing focus on their assigned responsibilities?

That's always the case, it seems, with whistleblowers. They might be telling the truth, and publicizing something their employer would rather conceal. Then again, they might be the occasional O/C employee who simply will not listen to reason, accept reality, and focus on their own job.

It's probably Fannie Mae's problems which occurred under the shameful watch of Frank Raines, that have brought this story to the Journal's pages. Anything hinting of further coverup at the image-impaired mortgage lender now gets attention.

Still, to me, something seems odd about Inman's tale. With several other Fannie Mae employees, including the General Counsel, going on record to assert that Inman is wrong, I am inclined to doubt the ex-employee. It's not just a faceless spokesperson stonewalling questions about Inman's allegation. Some fairly detailed counterpoints were mentioned in the article.

It ought to remind us that sometimes, the lone employee crying "wolf" is, in fact, one of those we have met elsewhere, continually seeing conspiracy and fraud in other corporate functions and processes.