CoreLogic Inc. Chief Financial Officer Anthony “Buddy” Piszel has resigned from the Santa Ana-based mortgage and data services company amid legal issues from his prior job.
Piszel is part of a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into McClean, Va.-based Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., better known as Freddie Mac.
He worked at Freddie Mac from late 2006 to late 2008, when the embattled government-backed mortgage company was placed into conservatorship.
Piszel stepped down from CoreLogic effective immediately after receiving a Wells notice.
The notice indicates regulators plan to recommend civil action and gives recipients a chance to respond before a final decision is made.
After leaving Freddie Mac, Piszel was hired by Santa Ana’s First American Corp., which split into CoreLogic and title insurer First American Financial Corp. last year.
Piszel oversaw regulatory approvals and financing that paved the way for the split and joined CoreLogic afterward.
Prior to Freddie Mac, he also held finance posts at Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc. and Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Financial Inc.
Last month, Piszel received the Lifetime Achievement award at the CFO of the Year awards, presented by the Business Journal and the Orange County and Long Beach chapter of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.
The SEC probe relates to a period that predates Piszel’s employment with CoreLogic and is not directed at the company, officials said.
Still, officials “decided it would be in the best interest of the company for Buddy to leave CoreLogic to focus on his response to these issues,” Chief Executive Anand Nallathambi said.
Piszel said he plans to fight the any potential civil action, according to a CoreLogic statement.
Speaking to the Business Journal last month, Piszel noted that his stint at Freddie Mac began when the company was already facing tough financial pressures, at that he was on board there for less than two years.
“It was a tough situation,” he said.
While Piszel’s resignation is effective immediately, he’ll stay on at CoreLogic in a non-executive capacity through June 1 to help with a transition.
A search for a successor financial chief is under way.
For now, Michael A. Rasic, senior vice president of finance and accounting, will serve as principal financial officer for the company.
