Litigation MDL No. 1668, Consolidated Civil Action No. 04-1639) In a settlement with OFHEO and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fannie paid a record $400 million civil fine. Fannie, which is the largest American financier and guarantor of home mortgages, also agreed to make changes in its corporate culture and accounting procedures and ways of managing risk. The SEC and the Justice Department never brought any charges against Raines. In June 2008, The Wall Street Journal reported that Franklin Raines was one of several people who may have received below market rates loans at Countrywide Financial because the corporation considered the officeholders "FOA's"--"Friends of Angelo" (Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo). But the article acknowledged that it had insufficient data to confirm whether the rates were below market. He received loans for over $3 million while CEO of Fannie Mae. Raines has denied that he received any loan terms from Countrywide other than those for which he qualified based on his credit standing. Role in the subprime mortgage crisis Whether the GSEs (Government-Sponsored Enterprises) caused or greatly contributed to the financial crisis of 2008 is controversial. The overwhelming consensus of those who have examined the issue find that their connection in to the crisis was minor at best. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) completed its analysis of the financial crisis and found that the GSE's "contributed to the crisis, but were not a primary cause". There was a strong dissent by one member of the commission. The FCIC found that the GSE's were late to the subprime lending game, entering the market in a substantial way in 2005. The GSE's followed rather than led the race to purchase subprime loan securities. The GSE's increased their involvement in the subprime securitization market because they were significantly losing market share and were feeling less relevant in the mortgage lending marketplace. In accordance with the mission of Fannie Mae to enable home ownership by a greater proportion of the population, Franklin Raines, while chairman and CEO, began a pilot program in 1999 to ease credit requirements on loans that Fannie Mae purchased from banks. Raines promoted the program saying that it would allow consumers who were "a notch below what our current underwriting has required" to get home loans. The move was intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners. The Investor's Business Daily editorial staff has