February 21, 2008

Are you ready for the glorious frog march of Countrywide Toxic Mortgage's Angelo Mozilo?


Seriously, I can't believe that Angelo Mozilo hasn't been arrested yet.

Really. I cannot believe that Countrywide's offices haven't been raided, and Mozilo and gang frog-marched to the pokey for the world to see.

It will happen. And when it does, it will be glorious.

Rise of the Bezzle

If there is one person more responsible for this mess than any other, it’s Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide Financial, and one of America’s best-paid executives. His company emerged as the leading practitioner of the kind of sub-prime lending that led to these problems. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer recently singled out Countrywide as most representative of the “greed … motivated widespread, irresponsible lending that contributed to what could have been the largest home foreclosure crisis in our country.”

Schumer went on to accuse Countrywide of giving sales staff incentives to market the most expensive mortgage loans for the company “and its partners.” According to Schumer, “We have learned that Countrywide’s promise to get borrowers the ‘best possible loan’ have been nothing more than a commitment to squeeze every dollar possible from homeowners. In fact, Countrywide’s lending business model prioritizes fees and commissions over the financial viability of the loans.”

Thank you, Mr. Schumer, for the confirmation. Fully one-quarter of Countrywide’s mortgages have now gone under, which should be considered criminal. Any respectable loan office can tell you there are commonly accepted business practices that can be easily applied to a loan portfolio that would allow you to avoid a default rate like that.

26 comments:

Princess Mononoke said...

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It PAINS me to look at his photo! YUK!

Anyhoo, the last thing I read was that BofA was waiting until the 3rd Quarter of this year to re-dress the acquisition proposal of Countrywide.

Hhmmm... There is something way tooooo fishy about all of this. Why WAIT until October? Could it be that Bush will PARDON him too before Bush leaves? or perhaps make him Ambassador of Kosovo?

Something is definitely up, why the delay and virtually NO news about either of them!

Princess Mononoke said...

And I would like to ADD...

~ OFF with his HEAD ~

Anonymous said...

Arrested for what? Did Mozilo force anyone to sign for these dumb loans? If you take out an ARM, you take your chances.

blogger said...

Arrested for knowingly enabling rampant and widescale mortgage fraud, obvious insider stock trading, and documented Sarbanes-Oxley violations

Any other questions?

Anonymous said...

YEAH, BUT NOBODY SAID YOU HAD TO PAY COUNTRYWIDE BACK!!!

PIECE OF ADVICE...

GIVE A FRIEND A 1% INTEREST IN YOUR COUNTRYWIDE FINANCED HOME...

STOP MAKING THE PAYMENTS...

HAVE THE FRIEND SUE AND DELAY THE FORECLOSURE...

DOPES!!!

Anonymous said...

Even in the unlikely event that a corrupt CEO gets "frog marched", Bush will pardon everyone when he leaves office.

The elite NEVER have to pay for their crimes other than the odd "window dressing" sentence in Club Fed (e.g. Boesky).

Ken Lay....new identity and now lives on the beach in Sri Lanka.

Anonymous said...

Keith:

You're dreaming. I think you've been living in Europe for too long. Yes, if he committed the same type of fraud in Europe, he would have been tried and convicted already.

But come on, this is America. I'm surprised he's not running for president with full approval from the American public. He'd probably win in a landslide also.

But to sum things up: Mozillo will never be indicted. This is America. He'l instead be praised, promoted, and after he's long gone, American historians will speak about how great he was. And even when we enter a second depression, where people are losing their homes left and right, rampant crime is everywhere, and unemployment reaches epidemic proportions, it'll still be worse in Europe cause they got Muslims, right?

Anonymous said...

They have far more important things to occupy their time. What you ask, why Clemens and MLB and oh yeah those old Patriots tapes. Far more important.

sarcasm off ...

Anonymous said...

Notice that CountryWide isn't on Schumer's list of donors. He hasn't criticized any of the Wall Street banks that fund his lavish lifestyle.

Mozilo did not commit insider trading. His stock sales took place from fall 2006 through summer 2007, so it's not like nobody knew he was selling. If they arrest Mozilo, they have to arrest nearly everyone associated with the mortgage industry, including WaMu, IndyMac, and dozens of other large banks.

Which SOX regulations did he violate?

Anonymous said...

Will Bush pardon Mozilo? Clinton pardoned billionaire fugitive Marc Rich for a $2 million bribe. How much will it cost Mozilo? Most likely it will be Obama pardoning Mozilo.

blogger said...

Which SOX?

The biggest one - knowingly falsifying the company's balance sheet (overstating the value of assets)

Paige Turner said...

RE: White collar criminals will be tried and convicted...

Don't hold your breath.

Back in early September of 2001, the whole country was talking about who killed intern Chandra Ann Levy. Was it her boss, congressman Gary Condit, a Democrat representing California's 18th congressional district, with whom she was having an affair?

For weeks, this story was on the front page of every newspaper, tabloid and magazine in the country. The fate of Chandra Levy and her involvement with Congressman Condit was the lead story on all the networks.

Then came September 11, 2001.

On September 12, 2001 the sensational story of Chandra Levy and Gary Condit became a non-story: Gary Who?

President Bush's approval rating has dropped to 22% as his crime syndicate continues to loot what is left of the US treasury. High-ranking friends of the president, who should be under indictment, are still depositing their stolen loot in offshore banks.

Public pressure is mounting. People feel that the financial racketeers who have destroyed the US economy should be tired and convicted.

What to do, what to do?

The administration will need to create a major distraction -- another "terror" attack that will dwarf 9/11. The chaotic aftermath of such an incident will provide the smoke screen needed to divert the nation's wrath against its robber barons.

V.L.

Anonymous said...

Orange man deserves no less than frog march for securities fraud, but I don't like the tone of this article. Just more of the same, "subprime borrowers are victims" BS.

"Fully one-quarter of Countrywide’s mortgages have now gone under, which should be considered criminal."

Yes that is criminal, but exactly who is the criminal and who's the victim here? Is it the person who took money and didn't repay or the person who had their money taken from them?

Frank R said...

"Yes that is criminal, but exactly who is the criminal and who's the victim here? Is it the person who took money and didn't repay or the person who had their money taken from them?"

Exactly what I was thinking....

And remember, a lot of these people *can* pay their mortgages, but they decided they don't want to like that spoiled self-righteous b*tch in the video a few weeks ago.

Anonymous said...

Kieth; pull your head out man Mozillo is a REPUBLICAN DONOR just like Ken Lay was Nothing will happen to Mozillo duh

Unsympathetic said...

Good effort, as always, trolls :)

1) "exactly who is the criminal and who's the victim"

The only reason Countryslide still exists as a going concern is because of the $56B loan from the FHLB - a bank consortium, not funded by the government. Yet, who funds the banks who stumped up tier 1 capital for the FHLB? Yep, US taxpayers. Criminal? Tan man. Victim? US taxpayers who are, once again, footing the bill.

2) " If you take out an ARM, you take your chances. "

Criminal? NYC I-banks who demanded that mortgage brokers who want to do business with them sell this worthless product. Victim? US taxpayers, once again, as we foot the bill for the cities whose muni budget is going south due to the loss of property taxes.. as well as the municipal blight from abandoned houses occupied by vagrants and drug lords.

Anon@12:05, you casually forgot one small piece of information. ARMs were designed for only the uber-rich who could pay off the sum with one check, yet wanted to invest the difference (monthly PITI on 30 yr fixed - monthly cost of ARM) in an investment earning a higher rate of return than the appreciation on the residence/ commercial property that the 30-yr is purchasing.

Back-end DTI limit is 38% for a conforming loan for a reason. No prudent underwriter approves an ARM as a sensible loan product for a person who lacks the cash on hand to pay the loan off tomorrow.. it just doesn't happen.

The question isn't "why did someone take an ARM" but rather "who convinced them it was a good idea." This one's for you, Alan Greenspan.

Anonymous said...

The orange one belongs in a federal pound me in the ass prison.
He is very very bad man.

Anonymous said...

It amazes me that he doesn't just wind up dead tanks to some ex-customer who reached the tipping point.

Anonymous said...

"We are out of the subprime business," Mozilo told investors at a conference in San Francisco.

Nearly 25% of Countrywide's subprime borrowers were behind on their loan payments at the end of June.

http://tinyurl.com/3x8o7h

Anonymous said...


The biggest one - knowingly falsifying the company's balance sheet (overstating the value of assets)


Moving those assets to Level 3 held to maturity means they don't have to be valued at FMV according to GAAP/FASB rules. Since there is no market for toxic junk, they cannot be valued.

Anonymous said...

Kieth; pull your head out man Mozillo is a REPUBLICAN DONOR

Never expect the truth from those left-wing nutjobs


But Mozilo has also played nationally. In the presidential race, Mozilo and a handful of Countrywide executives gave $13,950 to Republican presidential front-runner Rudolph Giuliani, and just to be safe $6,600 to one of his main foes, Mitt Romney.

On the Democratic side, Mozilo himself gave $2,300 to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Countrywide’s political action committee gave $10,000 to Sen. Christopher Dodd’s campaign. Now, why Dodd, you may ask? He's from far away in that cute little place called Connecticut.

Ah, well, when he’s not running for president and thanks to the new Democratic majorities in Congress, Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which has regulatory authority over home lenders such as, well, will you look at that, companies like Countrywide.

--Andrew Malcolm

Los Angeles Times

shtove said...

A summary of the lawsuits facing Countrywide:

http://tinyurl.com/3bapzo

Plenty of "class" action.

Anonymous said...

Anybody dealing with a "loan officer", mortgage "banker" or broker or whatever should realize they are talking to a commissioned salesperson who is trying to make money for themselves and not help you.

I don't think the consumer protection laws for lending as they currently exist are insufficient. Do you really have to tell people not to drink bleach? All the people involved in this deserve each other. They were all stupid, lenders and borrowers, and they should be left to suffer the consequences of their actions.

Anybody with an above average IQ can see Mozillo is a shady character 100 yards away. If he has committed securities fraud he should pay for that. But being a sleazy hustler isn't actually illegal.

Anonymous said...

come on people are you that naive ?

this is mob and vatican money we are talking about here

mozillo grew up in the bronx, dad was a butcher, butcher get it ? teamed up with a jew started a legit loan sharking company

this is the mob gone legit, but their boss now has a law degree.

I have friends that have started their own mortgage companies and were either killed or forced to shut down by guys like mozillo

and yes I would not be suprised if another 911 happens real soon to take the american public off of the robber barrons taken our money to other nations and setting us up for a takeover that would pale in comparision to hitler.

then again maybe I am wrong and this is all a bad dream ???

btw mozilo is in trouble now because the wasps (politicians) are not getting their money like they were promised so most likely they will throw him under a bus (congressional hearings) and when he is in prison they will take his money, millions of homes and divide it among themselves, and start their own mortgage companies, it is a bad idea to lie to a wasp

they come in swarms and will sting you to death all the while laughing to the bank !!!!

Anonymous said...

who would ever guess that moral americans would just up and walk away from bad loans ???

that is a huge miscalulation that the wasps, mob, vatican, mozilo made

Anonymous said...

Gavin,

Yes, I agree that is criminal too, but Sen. Schumer was very specific in these comments as well as others he's made. He thinks that borrowers who are upside down in their equity and/or unable to pay their mortgages are victims. This is bullsh!t.