American mortgage legend Company Fanny Mae has fired 700 employees on 9 and 10 April, alleging cheating, out of which 200 are Indians and most of those 200 are Telugu speaking. It is alleged that the employees along with Telugu organizations misused the company’s ‘matching gift program’. Fanny Maa said that the trimming was based on moral standards as a part of its restructuring efforts. Fanny Maa (Federal National Mortege Association) is a company sponsored by the US government. It was established in 1968.
What is ‘Matching Grant Program’?
‘Milan grant’ is a type of finance in which a donor agrees to donate for a certain project, but only when the applicant person or organization also contributes money to that project. To understand with an example, suppose you want to run a study class to teach poor children living in a slum. If you allocate a portion of the expenditure incurred for that purpose and another person or organization allocates the remaining part accordingly, then the donation received in this way is called the ‘matching grant’. Its share can be one-to-one (ie both sides equally contribute), two-to-one (two parts from the organization and one part from the applicant) or even three-to-one (three parts from the organization and one part from the applicant).
Misuse of matching grant
Milan grants are mainly used for education, health and social services. Employees fired by Fanny Mai have been accused of embezzling such matching grants. The donation was fraudulently received from the company by misusing the ‘Matching Grant’ program and cheating with the intention of embezzling money.
Telugu Association’s name also included
The ‘Telugu Association of North America’ (TANA) was connivance to misuse money. It is said that one of the employees fired from the job is serving as the Regional Vice President in TANA, while the other is the life partner of the former US Telugu Association (ATA). Apart from these two, other organizations are also involved in this scam and they are under investigation.
Indian-American politician sought clarification
Indian-American Congressman Suhas Subramanian from the US state of Virginia has sought clarification from Fanny Mai on the issue. He says that Fanny Mai has fired Indian and American community employees without doing a thorough investigation and providing evidence.
Telugu Association has been in controversy earlier also
The Telugu Association of North America has already faced similar allegations. In December 2024, a California court issued summons to Tana to testify before the Grand Jury. In that case, the amount of donations received from 2019 to 2024 was sought from the amount spent and details of representatives.
Such a fraud has also happened with the Apple Company.
Money-rigging from donation-related programs in America is not new. Earlier this year, similar allegations were made against the employees of Tech Company Apple. Apple fired more than 100 employees from jobs due to using welfare schemes for financial fraud. These employees used to pretend to donate and then take back the donation, so that they could avoid paying taxes on the amount donated.
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