Cox also aggressively used the agency's “Fair Funds” authority to distribute funds recovered from securities law violators directly to injured investors. By February 2008 the SEC had returned more than $3.5 billion to wronged investors, including more than $2 billion in 2007 alone. To expedite the return of the funds, cut red tape and lower costs, Cox created a new Office of Collections and Distributions. A few weeks later, in May 2008, the new Office began sending more than $800 million in Fair Funds to harmed investors in American International Group, Inc. (AIG), which settled SEC charges of financial fraud. In 2006 the Commission obtained a $350 million penalty from Fannie Mae after accusing it of accounting fraud; the penalty was one of the largest in Commission history. The following year the Commission charged Freddie Mac with accounting fraud and recovered a $50 million penalty.