Richard Hornsby, the chief operating officer of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, was charged with threatening to kidnap or injure a person after he allegedly threatened the agency’s former acting director, Ed DeMarco, at the agency’s headquarters last week.
According to court records, Hornsby was charged with one felony count on April 30 and issued a “do not assault, threaten, harass or stalk” order, preventing him from taking any further action against DeMarco.
The Wall St. Journal provides more details on the events that led to Hornsby’s charges.
Mr. Hornsby allegedly threatened to shoot Mr. DeMarco after making "increasing threatening comments" about him over the course of several weeks, according to court records and Metropolitan Police Department report.
FHFA officials notified the agency's inspector general about the threats on April 28, after an incident in which Mr. DeMarco was "escorted to a secure location following a report of a threat," according to the court complaint used to secure the warrant for Hornsby. An FHFA employee, who wasn't named in the report filed in court, said Mr. Hornsby had threatened to harm Mr. DeMarco and to kill himself.
Hornsby was also ordered to “stay away” from the FHFA’s Washington offices as part of the court order issued by Judge Karen Howze.
According to the FHFA’s website, Hornsby joined the FHFA in 2011, after spending 26 years at the Federal Bank of San Francisco. At the FHFA, he “is responsible for managing the Agency’ s operations and oversees FHFA’s administrative and support services, including budget and finance, communications, congressional affairs, human resources, information technology and quality assurance.”
Hornsby has a follow up hearing scheduled for May 14.
