Washington ? Mortgage giant Freddie Mac has agreed to pay a $125 million civil fine to settle federal regulators’ allegations of management misconduct and directors’ complacency, blamed for the company’s $5 billion understatement of earnings that led to the ouster of four top executives.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which supervises government-sponsored Freddie Mac and its larger rival Fannie Mae, also released Wednesday a critical report citing “a pattern of inappropriate conduct and improper management of earnings” at the company and even “a disdain for appropriate disclosure standards” among former executives.

The second-largest U.S. buyer of home mortgages “disregarded accounting rules, internal controls, disclosure standards, and ultimately, the public trust in pursuit of steady earnings growth,” the agency’s report found.

The McLean, Va.-based company did not admit to or deny wrongdoing in the settlement — the first such fine in the agency’s 10-year history.