Former OFHEO Head To Become Consultant

Armando Falcon Jr., the former director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight -- overseer of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- has joined the London-based Canonbury Group as a partner. At Canonbury -- a risk advisory concern to both investors and governments -- Falcon, 45, will concentrate on housing policy and capital markets. While heading OFHEO, Falcon, who stepped down from that post May 20, ordered probes on both mortgage financing companies as each became embroiled in accounting scandals, prompting many on Capitol Hill to urge for tighter regulation and limiting the size of their respective mortgage portfolios. Fannie Mae, for example, said that it would need to restate earnings by at least $8.4 billion.