New Home for a Fallen Housing Giant

Don't shed any tears for Franklin Raines, former chief executive of Fannie Mae and villain of the moment for Republicans.

While Raines was being demonized by the McCain campaign for his stewardship of the mortgage finance giant, he was buying a $4.9 million bachelor pad in Washington, according to Washingtonian magazine.

His new digs are a three-bedroom, seven-bath penthouse condominium in the city's West End Ritz-Carlton Residences. He and his wife - who have split - recently sold a seven-bedroom, eight-bath colonial, complete with library, movie theater, and pool, in a tony Washington neighborhood. The reported selling price was $7.6 million.

Republicans, trying to pin the financial crisis on Democrats, have repeatedly blamed Raines for allowing mortgage lending to go wild during his tenure. Republican lawmakers have repeatedly called for him to be hauled before a congressional hearing to testify about his role.

Raines, who was White House budget director in the Clinton administration, was paid some $91 million while at Fannie Mae. And about $52 million of that was linked to bonus targets reached by accounting manipulations, according to a report by federal regulators, which said quarterly earnings targets were adjusted so senior executives got hundreds of millions in bonuses.

After he was ousted in 2004, Raines was sued by regulators who sought to get Raines and two other top Fannie Mae executives to return $115 million in bonuses. Raines's share was some $85 million -- a sum that is likely to be mentioned more than once if he gets called on the congressional carpet.

Elizabeth Olson