Freddie Mac COO resigns

NEW YORK (AP) - Government-controlled Freddie Mac says its chief operating officer, Bruce M. Witherell, has resigned for personal reasons, effective immediately.

The mortgage giant said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday that Witherell will not receive any termination benefits.

Freddie Mac hired Witherell in September 2009. The position was vacant after former COO Eugene McQuade left in 2007 after three years on the job.

Witherell was managing director and global co-leader of the residential mortgage business at Morgan Stanley from 2006 until the summer of 2009. Before that, he spent 15 years at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Freddie, along with sibling company Fannie Mae, nearly went under in September 2008. The government rescued them and estimates that will cost taxpayers up to $259 billion.