Shareholders Adamant Treasury Sweep is Illegal in DE, VA
January 22, 2016
After the Federal Housing Finance Agency filed a motion in November to dismiss a case introduced by two GSE shareholders over the summer, the shareholders have opposed the motion to dismiss and are demanding a jury trial. The original complaint stated that with Fannie chartered under Delaware law and Freddie under Virginia’s jurisdiction, the preferred stock of a corporation cannot be given a cumulative dividend right equal to all the net worth of the corporation “in perpetuity.” In a nutshell, shareholders David Jacobs and Gary Hindes argue that the net worth sweep in which Treasury takes the bulk of the GSEs’ profits is illegal under state law.