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annie Mae has identified eight real estate players with a combined outstanding loan balance of around $700 million as of March 2024, according to internal documents obtained by The Real Deal. These individuals have been blacklisted due to their involvement in mortgage fraud schemes, and some have already pleaded guilty for their roles. The list includes Boruch "Barry" Drillman, Moshe "Mark" Silber, and Fred Schulman, who are awaiting sentencing.

    Fannie Mae's largest exposure is to Drillman, with eight active loans totaling $250 million in unpaid principal balance. The agency was aware of its growing exposure to suspect loans as early as March 2024, months before it listed financial losses from mortgage fraud as a top risk factor in its third-quarter earnings filing. Fannie Mae has set aside $752 million to cover potential losses, but the total amount of the fraud schemes could be much higher.

    The other names on Fannie's blacklist are Boruch Gottesman, Chaim Puretz, Oron Zarum, Israel Katz, and David Helfgott. An example of their interconnectedness is seen in Zarum and Puretz's involvement with four properties in Indianapolis, where prosecutors alleged millions of dollars of rent were misused. Fannie Mae has already repurchased eight loans from Chaim Puretz.

    Fannie Mae disclosed financial losses from mortgage fraud for the first time last year and reserved hundreds of millions of dollars for credit losses due to suspected fraud in the first quarter of 2025. The agency is seeking to impose tougher rules on lenders and brokers after some of these schemes came to light.