In Elias v. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, 2013 WL 5372887 (E.D. Mich 2013), the court granted Freddie Mac's motion to dismiss the complaint brought by the former Michigan Attorney General on behalf of a real estate broker and his companies claiming that their inclusion by Freddie Mac's Financial Fraud Investigation Unit on Freddie Mac's Exclusionary List ("E-List") violated state antitrust laws and constituted interference with contract, defamation, and civil conspiracy. The court dismissed plaintiffs' state antitrust claim, holding that Freddie Mac's actions were not an illegal restraint of trade because Freddie Mac has a legitimate business reason for using the E-List to protect itself against undue risks of loss. It found no plausible allegation that Freddie Mac was motivated by anything other than its legitimate business purpose and held that Freddie Mac's good faith disclosure to its seller-servicers that plaintiffs were on the E-List was entitled to the qualified privilege. The LCBF team was headed by Mark Landman, Gerry Ford, and Natalie Garcia.
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