A senior executive with one of the failed US mortgage lenders has reportedly committed suicide, police said today. 

David Kellermann, 41, the senior vice-president of Freddie Mac, was found dead by his wife at home in Virginia. Exact details of his death were not known but police said they were investigating a suicide. He was acting chief financial officer of the government-backed mortgage lender.

Mr Kellermann had been with Freddie Mac, the nickname for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, at its Virginia headquarters for 16 years. He was found at his £1.2 million home in suburban Washington at around 5am local time.

Police spokesman Mary Anne Jennings said: “We were called from inside the house to come and investigate an apparent suicide. We're not to give you details of the condition of the body.”

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were heavily involved in the sub-prime lending market which led to the US housing market collapse and the eventual global recession. In November they were taken over by the government when they were on the brink of collapse.

The two companies owned half of America's $12 trillion mortgage market. In March, Freddie Mac revealed a loss of $50.1 billion for 2008 and said it planned to ask the government for even more aid. It received $13.8 billion last year.