Terms of the settlement weren't immediately known. Its completion was announced Thursday by The Wall Street Journal online.

Raines, former chief financial officer Timothy Howard and former controller Leanne Spencer reached the agreement with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the agency that oversees the two big government-sponsored mortgage finance companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Agency spokeswoman Stefanie Mullin declined to comment. Attorneys for Raines, Howard and Spencer couldn't be reached for comment Thursday evening.

OFHEO filed civil charges against Raines, Howard and Spencer in December 2006, seeking fines of $100 million or more against the three and restitution totaling more than $115 million in bonus money tied to an improper accounting scheme.

The executives disputed the regulators' charges and said they were politically motivated. Raines' attorney called OFHEO Director James B. Lockhart "a fatally biased regulator" and asked a federal appeals court to remove him from the case.

Last November, Freddie Mac's former chief executive, Leland Brendsel, agreed in a settlement with OFHEO to pay $2.5 million in fines to the government, give back $10.5 million in salary and bonuses to the company, and waive claims against the company for compensation worth $3.4 million.

Freddie Mac's accounting scandal occurred in June 2003 when the McLean, Va.-based company said it had misstated earnings by $5 billion between 2000 and 2002 - artificially inflating results in some periods, while reducing them in others.

Raines and Howard were swept out of office in December 2004 in the multibillion-dollar accounting fiasco at Washington-based Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. financer and guarantor of home mortgages. Two years later, the company announced a restatement for 2001 through June 30, 2004, that erased $6.3 billion in previously reported profit.

Raines, a prominent Washington figure who was White House budget director in the Clinton administration, led Fannie Mae - with its legendary political clout, generosity in campaign contributions and lobbying savvy - from 1999 until his ouster by the company board.

Raines' total compensation from 1998 through 2004 was $91.1 million, including some $52.6 million in bonuses, according to OFHEO. Howard earned $30.8 million during the period, including $16.8 million in bonuses; Spencer received $7.3 million, of which some $3.5 million was bonus money.

Fannie Mae paid a record $400 million civil fine in a settlement with OFHEO and the Securities and Exchange Commission. It also agreed to make top-to-bottom changes in its corporate culture, accounting procedures and ways of managing risk.