January 09, 2008

It should be obvious by now that Countrywide Toxic Mortgage's Board of Directors is not only incompetent, but they're corrupt as well


Mozilo obviously stacked the board with his cronies so that he and his buddies could personally enrich themselves by OVER $800 MILLION at the expense of the CFC shareholders and employees.

Most sickening of all is that he hilariously had the Board authorize repurchasing $2 billion in Countrywide shares on the open market this past year even as he dumped 'em fast and furious. HE SOLD THEM AT THE INFLATED PRICE AND THEY BOUGHT THEM. AND THAT'S WRONG.


Mozilo has run Countrywide into the ground, it's stock has dropped 90%, they're on their way to bankruptcy, they participated in illegal activity, thousands will lose their jobs, screwed shareholders are suing the company, Mozilo is under SEC investigation, and criminal charges against Mozilo are likely around the corner. AND YET THE BOARD STILL DOES NOTHING AND MOZILO CONTINUES TO CALL THE SHOTS.

Want to know what's wrong with American business today? Just look to Countrywide and its current and former board members. And when the charges come down on Countrywide, and the frog marches start, they should start with the Board of Directors.

Angelo R. Mozilo
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Countrywide Financial Corporation
Chairman Countrywide Bank, FSB

Jeffrey M. Cunningham
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
NewsMarkets LLC

Robert J. Donato
Retired Executive Vice President, Los Angeles Branch
UBS Financial Services, Inc.

Martin R. Melone
Retired Partner
Ernst & Young LLP

Robert T. Parry
Retired President and Chief Executive Officer
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Oscar P. Robertson
President and Chief Executive Officer
Oscar Robertson Solutions LLC

Keith P. Russell
President and Chief Executive Officer
Russell Financial, Inc.

David Sambol
President and Chief Operating Officer
Countrywide Financial Corporation
President and CEO Countrywide Bank, FSB

Harley W. Snyder
President
HSC, Inc.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

A middle manager in Countrywide told me that the higher execs would insist on approval of loans that they knew could not be paid or that the applications contained fraud. He would regularly go to his boss and say "we can't approve this" and his boss would tell him to rubber stamp it and send it through. This was POLICY at Countrywide.
I had another Female friend that quit because of everything going on there. She couldn't sit there and approve of things that she knew were false.
So, this company deserves to go down. It is just bad that a few decent employees have to suffer because of bad/corrupt management.

Anonymous said...

A congressional investigation would quickly uncover this fraud

Bill said...

Hey Keith off topic..but i had to post it

check this shit out...

http://patrick.net/housing/contrib/buckeye.html

Bryan said...

Oscar P. Robinson is more commonly known as "The Big O" and was a highly-accomplished player in the National Basketball Association. Wikipedia reports that he was head of the NBAPA union at the time they won the right of free agency in an anti-trust case against the NBA.
Wiki also states that he is the only player to average a triple-double over an entire season (translation: a double-digit number in three statistical categories). My point is that there is a vast pool of highly successful businesspersons that could be on a board of directors, but sometimes it helps to be successful and famous.

Anonymous said...

Song for the Countrywide Frog March:

See the froggies march...

One by one they hop
along trails of sorrow
they have blazed with their
wicked ways.

For days and days the
rays of sun have stopped
shining in the lives of many
people associated with Countrywide.

I want Mozillo, the orange-looking
Godzilla-esque creature that calls
himself a CEO to have to sit behind bars in emulation of the virtual bars his has slammed shut on his stockholders, employees, and American market.

Hippety, yippety hop. The mouse ran up the clock. And when he did the froggies jumped and wore orange jump suits that resembled Mozillos pumpkin-head critter face.

Punish the froggies, fry them on the open BBQ of true, justice and the best justice we can dish out.

Because revenge is a dish best served cold: as in organge patte frog leg Mozillo supreme!

Sing a long kids! La, la, la!

Bill said...

LOL!!!

The Countrwide announcement (Alo @ 8:55) is chilling. They're making lots of money (late fees) because borrowers are behind on their payments.

What a business model!

Anonymous said...

My point is that there is a vast pool of highly successful businesspersons that could be on a board of directors, but sometimes it helps to be successful and famous.


Mozilo had to get the token minority on his BOD to show that CountryWide is a diverse company and is looking out for the best interests of minorities

Anonymous said...

the buisness world is more corrupt than the govt, you just don't get to see it.

Anonymous said...

I just don't buy the fact that Countrywide is going down. They government has a vested interest in making sure they stay in business. They will be saved.

has anyone seen this new site? http://www.beekast.com kinda off topic, but I like the concept.

Anonymous said...

havent seen any of their ads lately either. used to be several times a day. Dont know, scrolling back on advertising money?

I seriously hope they dont end up like Enron. That F'd a lot of people.

I like to see a little hubris punished, but the fact remains that a lot of average joes get screwed in the process.

brokersleaveyoubroke said...

There was an interesting footnote in their announcement. They made six million dollars worth of subprime loans last month, down from three billion for the month a year ago. The biggest mortgage originator in the country only made around 30 to 40 subprime home loans last month. The only way to get rid of all the empty houses out there is to sell them to people who don't already own a home and most people who don't own houses are either subprime or people who prefer to rent. Subprime is dead and I don't see any huge group of affluent people with big down payments ready to jump in and buy those millions of empty houses.

Anonymous said...

A word to the wise, if you currently hold a short position:
I was short and just closed the position. My broker informed me that if bankruptcy is declared, there is a lot of uncertainty about executing trades and it may not be possible to rapidly close short positions. Apparently, short positions on Enron were frozen and could not be closed for some time.
Do your own research on this.

Anonymous said...

We're getting a stimulis package so STFU!

Anonymous said...

" It is just bad that a few decent employees have to suffer because of bad/corrupt management.
"

That's called collateral damage.

snicker.

Anonymous said...

Its great work. If you can get it.

Anonymous said...

Countrywide Financial, the nation's largest mortgage lender, is on a collision course with bankruptcy, with potentially severe impacts on the ability of U.S. consumers to refinance their homes or get new mortgages, according to Weiss Research analysts Mike Larson

"Countrywide is at ground zero of the mortgage crisis," commented Weiss. "It exhausted many of its extraordinary financing options last year and is ill-prepared for the rising mortgage defaults and home foreclosures that are widely expected this year. Already, the credit quality of Countrywide's mortgage servicing portfolio has deteriorated, with 7.2% of the mortgages it's servicing delinquent in December, up sharply from 6.5% in November and 4.6% a year earlier."

Weiss' conclusion: "With the mortgage market and economy continuing to slide, it's likely Countrywide will suffer intolerable losses. Thus, in the absence of extraordinary intervention, we believe it could be difficult for Countrywide to avoid failure, with a potentially severe impact on consumers."

Anonymous said...

If you have a mortgage serviced by Countrywide (you can't change servicers):

you must, IMMEDIATELY (wihtin one or two days!!!) stop all escrow payments for insurance and property taxes, and have the excess money sent to you ASAP.

In a bankruptcy, CW will seize that money. Guaranteed 100%. And you are still liable for taxes and insurance no matter what.

It doesn't matter that it's legally entitled to you.

Refco (commodities broker) in BK seized many account holder's personal and company funds, even though they were supposed to be in separate escrow accounts. They literally theived from Jim Rogers' commodity funds. This despite the fact that they explicitly told them their money is protected. They lied. Jim Rogers is still out hundreds of millions of dollars. I personally lost a few thousand, stolen out of a FX trading account. Got 20%-30% back in the BK settlment eventually.

Do NOT believe anything any CW representative says. It is not legally binding on them.

In a bankruptcy, the money vacuum comes first and they lawyer up.

A BK can happen extremely fast, and will go down before anybody at the low level has the slightest idea.

As in, it could be within 24 hours.

And the moment it is filed, they will shut off all outgoing money transfers cold. (that's what BK lets them do).

Pay extra to have a wire transfer and not wait for a check.

Withdraw escrow immediately.

Watch ml-implode.com

The Fattest of Fat ladies is gonna go BrunnhildesTod on us soon.

Keith--you were dead right about this one. I didn't have the balls to short enough.

Anonymous said...

BIG BUSINESS AND BIG BANKING ARE THE GOVERMENT........DONT YOU GUYS GET IT?

Anonymous said...

Oscar Robertson has been a well-connected operator in Indianapolis for years.

Mentioned here, unflatteringly:

http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2007/12/city-finally-moves-against-phoenix.html

Anonymous said...

To: anon @ 9:39 PM

Do you have the legal right to demand the escrowed insurance and taxes be returned to you?
Don't the terms of the mortgage insurance and the mortgage itself require an escrow for the first x years?
Also, doesn't this issue also affect your principal and interest payments - couldn't they be lost in the process leaving you still liable for them?

Anonymous said...

Companies are run for the benefit of upper management. Didn't they teach that in MBA school?

They should teach that in kindergarden, 6th grade, 9th grade, 12th grade and in college before people actually have to look for jobs. They need to understand how the world works.

Anonymous said...

Here is your cell for the next 25 years Mr. Mozillo. Your cell mate is Jeffrey Skillings.

Anonymous said...

Keith,

CNBC had a chart out during the interview with paulson yesterday and I thought it showed the monthly breakdown of loans originated the past twelve months.
The page was turned in about a minute but at first glance, Dec looked jaw dropping horrific.

Can someone prove me wrong?


ICEMAN

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised that none of them have resigned so they could "spend more time with their family"

Princess Mononoke said...

Penny stock ~ Tangelo ~ Penny stock

Princess Mononoke said...

You know what really ticks me off... everybody keeps blaming the homedebtors for the real estate and mortgage fall-out.

Not Ben, Bush, Paulson, or the MSMs mention the FACT that WE would NOT be in this f#$ked up situation because of the loan products the lenders sold!!!!

ei; Option ARMs, Short-term fixed rates.......

Those A$$holes put almost every borrower PRIME, ALT-A and of course Sub-prime into Option ARMs!

Venting OFF!

Princess Mononoke said...

Keith, I just heard on CNBC that Countryslime is having talks with BofA negotiating a BUY-OUT!

Princess Mononoke said...

I don't get it? BofA has already lost $2 billion dollars that they invested in Countryslime last summer. Why would BofA even remotely consider a buy-out knowing full well CWs loans are a worthless!?!?!? Not to mention, ruining their reputation?!

Princess Mononoke said...

I just realized Tangelo is MANIPULATING the market ergo CFC stock price!

Anything related to CFC is rated JUNK (ie; bonds, stock, biz) it should be priced accordingly ~ a PENNY STOCK!

So Tangelo and friends are using the MSMs to continuously talk about the BofA buy-out! They've been NON-stop talking about CW today! Interesting...

Tangelo is a sly fox...

Anonymous said...

Do you have the legal right to demand the escrowed insurance and taxes be returned to you?
Don't the terms of the mortgage insurance and the mortgage itself require an escrow for the first x years?
Also, doesn't this issue also affect your principal and interest payments - couldn't they be lost in the process leaving you still liable for them?


Yes, you do have a legal right.

And what does that get you?

The right to get in line in bankruptcy with all the other unsecured creditors.

Big banks will get their money FIRST. You will get it last. The only people worse off than you are common stockholders.

"The ones with the best lawyers win."

You might lose interest and principal as well, but you don't have the right to change servicers.

The legal issue may be different, though, since the mortgage holder has a contract with the servicer.

It would be much more difficult to enforce their claim against you, if you have proof you paid the servicer for the money the servicer owes to the mortgage holder. Your defense will be "my mortgage contract says I must pay the servicer. I paid the servicer, see exhibig A. Your contract is with the servicer, not me. You don't have standing to sue me."

Insurance and taxes, though, you owe directly to insurance and state. The bank is just doing you a favor by combining the payments.

btw, I'm not a laywer so I could be wrong. Best thing is to avoid the situation as much as possible. Cash is king, not legal rights.