The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), the division of the Department of Housing and Urban Development that oversees and regulates Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, has reached a notable settlement with three of Fannie Mae's former executives. The settlement, announced late Friday, will end enforcement actions against the three officers arising out of accounting and internal control problems at the two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) in 2004. It took Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae three years to revise their financial reporting to clear the problems and cost them a substantial part of their autonomy. The Consent Orders were announced by OFHEO Director James B. Lockhart and dealt with former Fannie Mae Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Franklin D. Raines, former Chief Financial Officer J. Timothy Howard and former Controller Leanne Spencer.