Freddie Mac names new CEO

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Freddie Mac's board of directors named a new chairman and chief executive of the scandal-ridden mortgage finance giant.

The board selected Wall Street and Washington veteran Richard F. Syron to the position. Freedie Mac has been mired in a year-long accounting scandal that has led to the ouster of two chief executives in the past six months.

Syron, 60, will take over from acting chairman and chief executive Gregory J. Parseghian at the end of the year. The move comes as Freddie Mac's federal regulator prepares this week to release a highly critical report of the firm and its board, sources told the Post, the Washington Post reported Monday.

The mortgage company is pushing to reach a settlement with the regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight so that the agreement could be announced simultaneously with the release of the report, sources said.