A federal housing official was sentenced to prison for soliciting kickbacks, the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney's Office said on Monday. Santa Ana federal judge David O. Carter sentenced Armando Granillo, a sales associate with Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, to 15 months in prison, followed by six months in a residential reentry center. Fannie Mae is under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the investigation was conducted by the agency's Office of Inspector General, prosecutors said. Granillo was convicted after a two-day trial of three counts of "honest services" wire fraud for soliciting kickbacks while working for the mortgage agency as a real estate-owned foreclosure specialist. This conduct "violated Fannie Mae and the public's trust by engaging in a form of public corruption. … This crime is akin to those involving governmental officials who solicit bribes in exchange for favorable treatment. The reputational damage is devastating
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