The fraud charges against Syron and other executives of Freddie Mac and the other government-sponsored mortgage-trader, Fannie Mae, who were charged with concealing subprime sludge from their shareholders, will fuel the right-wing narrative of the financial crisis. Rightists contend that Fannie and Freddie, not the banks, were responsible for the financial crisis by monopolizing the market for subprime loans that eventually went bust, dragging down the entire housing market. What this bogus argument ignores is that these two hated government-sponsored enterprises did not actually make loans, but just bought them after they were issued.

But let’s put aside the political hot potato for the moment. My focus is on Dick Syron. And my question to the SEC is this: What took you so long? Syron should have been put on the securities-enforcement hot seat a decade ago, long before he put his mitts on Freddie Mac, whose decision to name him as CEO always baffled me.

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