Fixers George Sard and Robert Barnett retained by ex-Fannie, Freddie execs

The ousted heads of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have hired two of the nation’s best-regarded fixers to help them hold onto their golden parachutes.

Together, Daniel H. Mudd of Fannie Mae and Richard F. Syron of Freddie Mac are eligible for as much as $24 million in severance, retirement benefits and deferred compensation, according to the New York Times.

But with public outrage mounting over the cost of the government takeover to taxpayers – and three Democratic senators, including Barack Obama, calling for reduced payouts - the two are bracing for a fight.

Syron has retained George Sard, chairman and CEO of Sard Verbinnen & Co. - a media-relations firm which has represented dozens of Fortune 500 companies, as well as Martha Stewart, the home-living doyenne convicted of lying about a stock sale, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Nancy Grace, the former prosecutor and talk show host.

Syron, who is paying for lawyers and publicists himself, is eligible for a package worth at least $14 million - on top of the $17.1 million he has earned in cash, bonuses and stock options, since becoming chief executive of Freddie Mac in 2003, according to the Times.

But a big slice of that comes from a clause that allows him to trade a stock award that has plummeted in value for an $8.8-million cash payment. Sard said his client would not seek the $8.8-million payment. He said Syron was not seeking “a windfall” and was helping with the transition.

For his part, Mudd has hired high-profile Washington lawyer Robert B. Barnett to negotiate in his behalf - with fees to be paid by Fannie Mae as provided for in his employment contract.

“We are discussing all matters with the government, and Mr. Mudd has been asked to stay on in a transitional role, and he is open to doing so,” Barnett told the Times.

Barnett, a partner at the powerhouse firm of Williams & Connolly LLP, has represented a Who’s Who of America’s power elites. His past clients include former President Bill Clinton and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, GOP political guru Karl Rove, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and the late NBC talk-show host Timothy Russert.

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