FANNIEGATE
Screenplay by Glen Bradford
Based on real events — 2008 to present
Act One
THE SEIZURE
FADE IN:
SEPTEMBER 6, 2008
INT. TREASURY DEPARTMENT — SECRETARY'S CONFERENCE ROOM — NIGHT
HENRY PAULSON (Jeff Daniels), 62, stands at the head of a mahogany table that seats twenty. His sleeves are rolled up. He hasn't slept in two days. The room is full: lawyers, Fed officials, FHFA regulators. Every seat taken. Coffee cups, legal pads, BlackBerrys.
On the wall: framed portraits of previous Treasury Secretaries. Alexander Hamilton stares down at the chaos. A Bloomberg terminal in the corner scrolls red.
TIMOTHY GEITHNER (Paul Dano), 47, President of the New York Fed, sits at Paulson's right. He's taking notes on a yellow legal pad. His handwriting is meticulous.
Paulson
We're placing them into conservatorship. Both of them. Tomorrow morning, before markets open.
Murmurs around the table.
Treasury Lawyer
Mr. Secretary, the combined exposure is —
Paulson
Five point four trillion dollars in mortgage-backed securities. I know what the exposure is. That's why we're doing this tonight. Not next week. Not after another meeting. Tonight.
Geithner
(quietly, not looking up from his pad)
The senior preferred stock purchase agreement is ready. Ten percent annual dividend. Treasury takes a liquidation preference. We get warrants for 79.9% of common.
Paulson
And the shareholders?
Geithner
Protected. The statute requires the conservator to “preserve and conserve” assets. The shareholders retain their ownership.
Treasury Lawyer
(carefully)
For how long?
Paulson
This is temporary. A bridge. We stabilize the housing market, recapitalize the companies, and return them to private hands. That is the plan.
Long beat. The lawyer looks at Geithner. Geithner doesn't look back.
Treasury Lawyer
And if it's not temporary?
Paulson stares at him. The question fills the room.
Paulson
(with absolute certainty)
It's temporary.
IT WASN'T TEMPORARY.
FANNIEGATE
TITLE SEQUENCE. Quick cuts, scored to something tense and building:
— CNBC: “Breaking news: the federal government has placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship.”
— Stock tickers plummeting. Preferred shares dropping 90% in minutes.
— C-SPAN: Paulson testifying. “This is a time out.”
— Families loading boxes into cars. Foreclosure signs on front lawns.
— Wall Street trading floors. Traders with their heads in their hands.
— A counter appears on screen: DAYS IN CONSERVATORSHIP: 1
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. FANNIE MAE HEADQUARTERS — BOARDROOM — 2009
TIM HOWARD (Bryan Cranston), former CFO and Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae, sits in an empty boardroom. He's been forced out. Boxes of personal items on the table. He's being blamed for an accounting scandal he says he didn't commit.
Tim Howard — DIRECT TO CAMERA
Here's what nobody explains on CNBC. The original deal gave Treasury a 10% annual dividend on the senior preferred stock. Sounds reasonable, right? Except the companies are losing money. They can't pay the dividend. So they have to borrow from Treasury to pay Treasury's own dividend. It's a death spiral. The balance owed keeps growing — not because the companies are failing, but because the deal is designed to make them fail.
MONTAGE: Treasury injection numbers climbing on screen. $25 billion. $50 billion. $100 billion. $119.8 billion to Fannie. $71.7 billion to Freddie. Total: $191.5 billion.
SUPERIMPOSE: DAYS IN CONSERVATORSHIP: 365 ... 730 ... 1,095 ...
The counter keeps running. It will run for the entire film.
Act Two
THE SWEEP
AUGUST 17, 2012
INT. TREASURY DEPARTMENT — GEITHNER'S OFFICE — DAY
Four years later. Geithner is now Treasury Secretary. He sits behind a much bigger desk. The bookish Fed president has become something harder. A small group of senior staffers sits across from him.
On the desk: a document. “THIRD AMENDMENT TO THE SENIOR PREFERRED STOCK PURCHASE AGREEMENT.”
Geithner
The companies are profitable again. Very profitable. We need to change the terms.
Senior Staffer
Change them how?
Geithner
Replace the fixed 10% dividend with a net worth sweep. Every quarter, every dollar of net income goes to the United States Treasury. Not 10%. All of it.
Silence in the room.
Senior Staffer
(slowly)
So the shareholders get nothing. Ever.
Geithner
The shareholders get a stable housing market.
Senior Staffer
They've already paid back $46 billion in dividends. The bailout was $187 billion. At this rate they'll pay it back within —
Geithner
(cutting him off)
That's exactly why we need the sweep. If we don't take it, the companies rebuild capital. If they rebuild capital, they become independent. If they become independent, we lose control.
The staffer stares at him. Understanding dawning.
Senior Staffer
This isn't about paying back the bailout.
Geithner
(standing, adjusting his cufflinks)
This is about making sure these companies never threaten the financial system again. Sign it. Next item.
He walks out. CLOSE ON the document. A pen signs it.
Dick Bove (Steve Buscemi) — DIRECT TO CAMERA
Let me explain what just happened in words a normal human can understand. The government gave Fannie and Freddie $187 billion during the crisis. Fair enough — they needed it. But the companies started making money again. A LOT of money. They made $84 billion in 2013 alone. And instead of saying “great, pay us back and go about your business,” the government said “actually, we're keeping all of it. Forever.” Every dollar. Every quarter. In perpetuity. And by the way, you still owe us the original $187 billion. That's not a bailout. That's a shakedown. Bureaucrats have gone too far.
THE NET WORTH SWEEP WOULD TRANSFER OVER $301 BILLION TO THE U.S. TREASURY — $110 BILLION MORE THAN THE ORIGINAL BAILOUT.
THE SHAREHOLDERS WERE NEVER CONSULTED.
INT. COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS — JUDGE SWEENEY'S CHAMBERS — 2016
JUDGE MARGARET SWEENEY (Laura Linney) sits behind her desk. Before her: a stack of government privilege assertions. Thousands of documents the government refuses to release.
A GOVERNMENT ATTORNEY stands at attention.
Government Attorney
Your Honor, the executive privilege assertion covers approximately 12,000 documents relating to deliberations —
Judge Sweeney
Twelve thousand documents.
Government Attorney
Yes, Your Honor. The deliberative process —
Judge Sweeney
(picking up a document)
I've reviewed the privilege log. Let me read you what one of these “deliberative” documents says. A senior FHFA official — a Mr. Mario Ugoletti — described the period right before the Net Worth Sweep as, and I quote, a “golden era” of profitability.
The government attorney shifts.
Judge Sweeney
The government knew these companies were about to become massively profitable and then implemented a sweep to take all of that profit. And you want me to let you hide the documents that prove it.
Government Attorney
The privilege is well-established —
Judge Sweeney
The privilege is denied. All 11,000 documents are to be produced. Every single one.
She sets her pen down with finality. The government attorney exhales.
INT. FAIRHOLME CAPITAL — MIAMI — 2013 (FLASHBACK)
BRUCE BERKOWITZ (Paul Giamatti) sits in a modest office in Miami. Not the gleaming tower you expect from a hedge fund. Books everywhere. A Bloomberg terminal. A photo of Warren Buffett on the wall.
He's reading the Net Worth Sweep amendment for the third time. His COO stands in the doorway.
COO
Bruce, you can't be serious. You want to buy preferred stock in companies the government has seized.
Berkowitz
(not looking up)
The preferred has a par value of $25. It's trading at $2. The companies made $84 billion last year. The government is taking all of it. That's illegal. Eventually, someone will notice.
COO
What if no one notices?
Berkowitz
(finally looking up)
Then I'll make them notice. Call Chuck Cooper. We're filing suit.
SUPERIMPOSE: BRUCE BERKOWITZ WOULD PURCHASE 120 MILLION SHARES OF PREFERRED STOCK WITH A PAR VALUE OF $3.4 BILLION. HE PAID $700 MILLION.
INT. PERSHING SQUARE OFFICES — NEW YORK — NOVEMBER 2013
BILL ACKMAN (Oscar Isaac) stands at a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking Central Park. He turns to his team. Three analysts sit at a conference table covered in SEC filings.
Ackman
We're going in. Both companies. Common stock. Ten percent of each.
Analyst
Bill, the common is a zero if the conservatorship doesn't end —
Ackman
The conservatorship will end because it has to end. These companies back $7 trillion in mortgages. You cannot run the American housing market from a government office forever. The math doesn't work.
Analyst
The government seems to disagree.
Ackman
(turning from the window, smiling)
The government disagreed with me on Valeant too. And Target. And Herbalife. I don't need the government to agree with me. I need the government to follow the law.
SUPERIMPOSE: ACKMAN DISCLOSED 9.98% OF FANNIE MAE AND 9.77% OF FREDDIE MAC. OVER 210 MILLION SHARES. THE LARGEST COMMON SHAREHOLDER IN BOTH COMPANIES.
INT. U.S. DISTRICT COURT, D.C. — SEPTEMBER 30, 2014
JUDGE ROYCE LAMBERTH (J.K. Simmons), 71, reads his opinion from the bench. The courtroom is packed. Shareholder lawyers on one side. Government lawyers on the other. Perry Capital's lead attorney stands, braced.
Judge Lamberth
The court finds for the defendants. The plaintiffs' claims under HERA and the APA are dismissed. The anti-injunction clause bars this court from reviewing the conservator's decisions.
Gasps from the gallery. The Perry Capital attorney sits down slowly.
Judge Lamberth
(looking over his glasses)
The court acknowledges that the Net Worth Sweep may cause shareholders “a feeling of discomfort.” But discomfort is not a cause of action.
Glen Bradford — DIRECT TO CAMERA
“A feeling of discomfort.” The government takes $301 billion from shareholders and a federal judge calls it “a feeling of discomfort.” Remember that line. It's going to matter later — because the same judge, Judge Lamberth, is going to be the one who upholds a $612 million jury verdict against the government a decade from now. Same judge. Both sides. That's how you know the evidence was overwhelming.
Act Three
THE SUPREME COURT AND THE BETRAYAL OF HOPE
APRIL 2019
INT. FHFA HEADQUARTERS — MARK CALABRIA'S FIRST DAY — DAY
MARK CALABRIA (Sam Rockwell), 49, walks into the FHFA director's office. He sets down a copy of the Constitution on the desk. He's a libertarian economist who has been writing about ending conservatorship for a decade.
Calabria
(to his chief of staff)
The first thing we're doing is letting them keep capital. You can't end a conservatorship if the companies have zero capital. The sweep has to stop.
Chief of Staff
Treasury won't like that.
Calabria
I don't work for Treasury. I work for the housing market.
INT. TREASURY DEPARTMENT — MNUCHIN'S OFFICE — SEPTEMBER 2019
STEVEN MNUCHIN (Matthew Macfadyen) sits across from Calabria. Between them: the PSPA amendment allowing capital retention. $25 billion for Fannie. $20 billion for Freddie.
Mnuchin
(signing)
This is a start. Not the end. We're allowing capital retention — not ending conservatorship.
Calabria
It's the first step. We build capital, we finalize the capital rule, we recapitalize, we exit.
Mnuchin
(carefully)
Mark, I want to end this too. But the timing has to be right. The President needs a win, not a crisis.
Calabria
The crisis is that it's been eleven years.
Mnuchin signs the amendment. Pushes it across the desk. Pauses.
Mnuchin
One step at a time.
MNUCHIN WOULD SERVE FOUR YEARS. THE CONSERVATORSHIP WOULD NOT END.
INT. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES — JUNE 23, 2021
TED OLSON (Sam Waterston) sits in the gallery. He's argued before this court dozens of times. Today he's watching. The Chief Justice reads the opinion in Collins v. Yellen.
Chief Justice
(reading)
The for-cause removal restriction on the FHFA Director violates the separation of powers. The restriction is unconstitutional. Seven to two.
Celebration in the shareholder section. But then —
Chief Justice
(continuing)
However, the court unanimously holds that FHFA did not exceed its statutory authority in agreeing to the Net Worth Sweep. The anti-injunction clause bars judicial review.
The celebration dies. Olson closes his eyes.
EXT. SUPREME COURT STEPS — CONTINUOUS
Calabria's phone rings. He answers. His face changes. He hangs up.
Calabria
(to his aide, very still)
The President has fired me. Effective immediately.
Aide
They can't — the for-cause protection —
Calabria
(with a sad laugh)
The Supreme Court just struck down the for-cause protection. That's what the ruling says. The President can fire the FHFA director at will. We won the constitutional argument. And it killed us.
He walks down the Supreme Court steps. Alone.
Tim Howard (Bryan Cranston) — DIRECT TO CAMERA
This is the cruelest irony in the entire saga. The shareholders won at the Supreme Court. The unconstitutional structure was struck down. And the immediate result was that the one person most committed to ending the conservatorship was fired. Biden replaced Calabria with Sandra Thompson, who did absolutely nothing for four years. The shareholders won the battle and lost the war.
Act Four
THE VERDICT AND THE RETURN
OCTOBER 2022 — FIRST TRIAL
INT. U.S. DISTRICT COURT, D.C. — JURY ROOM — DAY
HAMISH HUME (Andrew Garfield), lead trial attorney from Boies Schiller, stands outside the jury room. His co-counsel from Bernstein Litowitz paces behind him. They've been waiting for three days.
The jury foreman emerges.
Jury Foreman
Your Honor, the jury is deadlocked. Four to four.
Judge Lamberth declares a mistrial. Hume sits down at the counsel table. Puts his head in his hands.
Hume
(to co-counsel, quietly)
We go again.
Co-Counsel
Hamish, it's been ten years —
Hume
Then it'll be eleven. We go again.
AUGUST 14, 2023 — SECOND TRIAL
INT. U.S. DISTRICT COURT, D.C. — COURTROOM — DAY
Same courtroom. Same judge. Different jury. Hume stands for closing arguments. He looks exhausted and alive at the same time.
Hume
Ladies and gentlemen, the government took everything. Not some of it. Not most of it. Everything. Every dollar of profit, every quarter, in perpetuity. And when we asked them why, they hid 12,000 documents behind executive privilege. When a judge forced them to turn those documents over, you know what they showed? That the government knew — knew — these companies were about to become massively profitable. And they swept it all anyway.
He pauses. Looks at the jury.
Hume
That's not conservatorship. That's confiscation. And you have the power to say so.
CUT TO: The jury returns. The courtroom is silent. Packed.
Jury Foreman
We the jury find that the Net Worth Sweep arbitrarily and unreasonably violated the contractual rights of private shareholders. We award damages in the amount of six hundred and twelve million, four hundred thousand dollars.
Chaos. The shareholder side of the courtroom erupts. Hume puts both hands on the counsel table to steady himself. His co-counsel grabs his shoulder.
In the gallery, GLEN BRADFORD sits very still. His eyes are wet. He pulls out his phone. Opens Twitter. Types one word:
@DONOTLOSE: “VICTORY.”
SUPERIMPOSE: WITH PREJUDGMENT INTEREST, THE TOTAL AWARD EXCEEDED $812 MILLION. JUDGE LAMBERTH — THE SAME JUDGE WHO DISMISSED PERRY CAPITAL IN 2014 — UPHELD THE VERDICT ON MARCH 14, 2025.
JANUARY 2025
INT. PERSHING SQUARE OFFICES — NEW YORK — DAY
Ackman stands at the same window overlooking Central Park. Twelve years later. He holds a document: “FANNIE MAE & FREDDIE MAC: A THREE-STEP PLAN TO PRIVATIZATION.”
Ackman
(to his team)
Step one: Letter agreement. Treasury forgives the senior preferred. Step two: Treasury exercises its warrants. Takes the 79.9%. Step three: IPO on the NYSE. We relist both companies. Combined value: four hundred billion dollars. Treasury's stake: over three hundred billion.
Analyst
And the preferred shareholders?
Ackman
The preferred shareholders get what they always deserved. Par value. $25 a share. $50 a share. Whatever the prospectus says.
Analyst
When?
Ackman
(smiling at the camera)
Q4 2026. This is my best idea for 2026. And I've had some good ideas.
INT. FHFA HEADQUARTERS — MARCH 2025
BILL PULTE (Miles Teller), 33, walks in like he owns the place. Because as of this morning, he basically does. He's just been sworn in as FHFA Director.
His first act: he names himself Chairman of both the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac boards of directors. Then he fires half the senior staff.
Pulte
(to remaining staff)
I didn't come here to manage a conservatorship. I came here to end one.
INT. TREASURY DEPARTMENT — BESSENT'S OFFICE — DAY
SCOTT BESSENT (Bradley Cooper) and HOWARD LUTNICK (Robert Downey Jr.) sit across from Pulte. Between them: the question that nobody has answered for seventeen years.
Bessent
I want to end the conservatorship. I'm open to how. But there's one non-negotiable: mortgage rates cannot go up. MBS spreads stay the same or come down.
Lutnick
I summoned the CEOs of the six largest banks last month. They're ready for a $30 billion preferred share offering. We can do this.
Pulte
The President wants this done. He posted on Truth Social that he's giving “very serious consideration” to privatization.
Bessent
(carefully)
The President wants a lot of things. The question is whether Congress needs to act first. An explicit guarantee requires legislation. We can't executive-order our way to an IPO.
Silence. The three most powerful people in American housing finance stare at each other.
Lutnick
(leaning forward)
So what's the timeline?
Bessent
The next month or two. Maybe.
THE IPO HAS BEEN “A MONTH OR TWO AWAY” SINCE 2019.
INT. PAULSON & CO. OFFICES — NEW YORK — DAY
JOHN PAULSON (Jeremy Strong) sits at his desk. On one screen: his GSE positions, worth billions if the IPO happens. On the other: a news article.
HEADLINE: “PUBLIC CITIZEN CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO POTENTIAL INSIDER TRADING IN FANNIE AND FREDDIE STOCK.”
He reads the article. The words “Trump mega-donor” and “conflict of interest” jump out. He picks up his phone. Puts it down. Picks it up again.
Dick Bove (Steve Buscemi) — DIRECT TO CAMERA
Here's the part that makes everyone uncomfortable. John Paulson raised over $50 million for Trump's campaign. He also holds billions in GSE stock that goes up every time the administration hints at privatization. In January 2019, the stocks jumped nearly 70% in three weeks on media leaks about privatization plans. Nobody's proved insider trading. But nobody's disproved it either. And that's the kind of thing that makes a good movie — and a bad democracy.
Final Sequence
DO NOT LOSE
INT. GLEN BRADFORD'S OFFICE — NIGHT — FEBRUARY 2026
Glen sits at his desk. Three monitors. Twitter on one. Brokerage account on another. A half-written SeekingAlpha article on the third. Twenty-six ticker symbols on the screen.
His phone buzzes. Another court filing. Another headline. Another “month or two.”
He opens a new tab. Starts writing.
Glen
(V.O.)
Seventeen years. Eighty-four billion in a single year, swept to Treasury. $301 billion total — $110 billion more than the bailout. A $612 million jury verdict. A Supreme Court ruling. Nine books. Three hundred articles. And still no resolution.
MONTAGE: Quick cuts of all the key players.
— Paulson walking out of Treasury, 2009.
— Geithner signing the Sweep.
— Berkowitz in Miami, buying preferred at $2.
— Ackman at the window, overlooking Central Park.
— Judge Sweeney ordering documents released.
— Calabria walking down the Supreme Court steps, alone.
— Hume in the courtroom. “That's not conservatorship. That's confiscation.”
— The jury foreman. “Six hundred and twelve million dollars.”
— Pulte naming himself chairman.
— Bessent. “I'm open to how.”
— Glen, kite surfing. Weightless for a moment.
Glen
(V.O.)
People ask me when this ends. I don't know. Nobody knows. It could be this year. It could be next year. It could be five years from now.
CLOSE ON Glen's brokerage screen. The twenty-six ticker symbols. His entire net worth on one screen.
Glen
(V.O.)
What I know is that I'll be here. Writing. Posting. Fighting. Because you can't steal from shareholders forever. Not in this country. Not while we're breathing.
He hits publish on the article. Leans back. The counter in the corner of the screen:
DAYS IN CONSERVATORSHIP: 6,384
The counter is still running.
Glen
(to himself, almost smiling)
Do not lose.
FADE TO BLACK.
As of February 2026, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain in conservatorship. They have been under government control for 17 years, 5 months, and counting.
They have paid the U.S. Treasury over $301 billion in dividends — $110 billion more than the $191.5 billion they received.
No private shareholder has received a dividend since 2008.
The $812 million jury verdict stands. FHFA is expected to appeal.
The IPO has been “imminent” since 2019.
Treasury holds senior preferred stock with a combined $340 billion liquidation preference.
The companies need an estimated $181 billion in additional capital to exit conservatorship. At current earnings, that will take at least 7 years.
The story is still being written.
THE END