Lockhart III, announced his decision to place the two GSEs into a conservatorship run by the FHFA. On September 6, 2008, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), James B. It was one of the financial events among many in the subprime mortgage crisis. Code §1719(g)(1)(B)(iii)), therefore it will be cancelled once the Treasury recovers its investment. Treasury bought was only authorized to protect the taxpayer (12 U.S. A conservatorship isn't a takeover of the ownership, but a status to rehabilitate corporations. The federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was the placing into conservatorship of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Federal National Mortgage Association ( Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ( Freddie Mac) by the U.S. Fannie Mae headquarters at 3900 Wisconsin Avenue, NW in Washington, D.C.