SEC close to deal in Fannie, Freddie case - NYT

Reuters reports:

U.S. regulators are close to an agreement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to settle an investigation into the companies' disclosure of their exposure to risky subprime loans, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Neither a monetary penalty nor an admission fraud would be included in the settlement under the proposed agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Times reported, citing several people briefed on the case.

The SEC abandoned hopes of assessing a fine because of the precarious financial positions of the two companies, the newspaper said, citing sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal was not yet final.

Got that? One of the biggest frauds in financial history was engineered by Fannie and Freddie but the SEC can't find much of anything. Why even have an SEC then???