In northeast Ohio, the office of Cuyahoga county (which contains Cleveland) prosecutor Bill Mason is suing Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Finance Agency for $1.1 million in unpaid real estate transfer taxes. This is one of eight identical suits filed across the country. Mason claims in court documents that, “Freddie Mac’s failure to pay the taxes were intentional, fraudulently and deceitfully withheld.” Freddie Mac did not pay the transfer taxes from 2002-2010, claiming they were exempt from paying them. Michigan filed a similar suit last year and won, with the court ruling that, “federal laws do not excuse the home mortgage lender from paying the state’s excise taxes.”
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