Freddie Mac (2003) Company: Federally backed mortgage-financing giant. What happened: $5 billion in earnings were misstated. Main players: President/CO0 David Glenn, Chairman/CEO Leland Brendsel, ex- CFO Vaughn Clarke, former senior VPs Robert Dean and Nazir Dossani. How they did it: Intentionally misstated and understated earnings on the books. How they got caught: An SEC investigation. . . . Penalties: $125 million in fines and the firing of Glenn, Clarke and Brendsel. Fun fact: 1 year later, the other federally backed mortgage financing company, Fannie Mae, was caught in an equally stunning accounting scandal