FLASH: And today, for all the world to see (including the SEC), we see why Countrywide Mortgage's Angelo Mozilo was dumping shares like rotten oranges

I hope some of you were short Countrywide. HP'ers saw this car crash coming a mile away. Next up - IndyMac.

Yes, I'm short IMB and CFC, and it was all so obvious now. Mozilo is laughing all the way to the bank, but we all know you can't take your money to jail... Good luck Orange Man with the gotta-be-coming-soon SEC investigation.

Countrywide quarterly profit tumbles; shares off 7%
Subprime problems spread to top-rated mortgages, lender says

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Countrywide Financial Corp. reported a 33% drop in second-quarter net income on Tuesday and signaled that problems in the subprime mortgage market have spread to the highest-quality home loans.

The warning pushed Countrywide shares down more than 7%, to their lowest level in almost two years. It also weighed on the broader stock market because investors have been waiting to see if credit problems in the subprime-mortgage sector would spill over into higher-rated, or "prime" home loans.

"The company incurred increased credit-related costs in the quarter, primarily related to its investments in prime home-equity loans," CEO Angelo Mozilo said in a press release detailing Countrywide's second-quarter financial results.

Countrywide's second-quarter net income fell 33% to $485 million, or 81 cents a share, down from $722 million, or $1.15 a share, earned a year earlier, on softening home prices.

Further dampening enthusiasm, Mozilo commented: "During the quarter, softening home prices continued to affect many areas of the country and delinquencies and defaults continued to rise across all mortgage product categories as a result."

FLASH: Subprime king Countrywide (hello Sarbanes-Oxley) finally comes clean, says it may face "earnings volatility". You don't say!

I think there are now grounds to open an SEC investigation for insider stock dealing, stock manipulation and false statements at Countrywide.

Just last week Angelo Mozilo had Countrywide's CFO marched out to proclaim how happy days were here, and how Countrywide was a "top-conditioned athlete", even though they knew subprime is in 100% meltdown mode, 19% of their subprime loans are already delinquent, and the disease has likely spread to their Alt-A portfolio.

Well, now today, possibly because of the advice of legal council, Countrywide started coming clean just a bit. Or maybe Mozilo and the corrupt insiders at CFC finally sold through the shares they had available to dump.

Note: Like Mozilo and the CFC insiders, I'm betting the stock will continue to free-fall and am short CFC. Oh, anyone see NEW is off another 50% today, down 95% in the past six weeks? Nah, no problems in subprime. None at all.

NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - Countrywide Financial Corp., the largest U.S. mortgage lender, on Monday said it has minimal exposure to nonprime mortgages, but may still experience fluctuating earnings in the near term due to turmoil in the U.S. subprime market.

The company said it was tightening its underwriting standards, adding that nonprime loans were only 7 percent of its funding volume in February.

Countrywide said it should benefit from competitors exiting the market. But the company may experience some short-term earnings fluctuations as difficulty in the subprime market cut into the amount of money it generates from selling loans to investors, and the value of the loans it hangs onto.

The lender also said it made $35 billion in mortgage loans in February, up 10 percent from a year earlier but down from January.

Countrywide said loans to less creditworthy borrowers fell to $2.6 billion from $2.8 billion a year ago.

Anyone know what happened to iamfacingforeclosure.com & Casey Serin?

His website is down (again), and then there was this report yesterday in the MSM where young Casey might have been better off taking the fifth... It's almost like he's begging for a knock on the door. If he still has a door. Poor kid. Another innocent victim of Angelo Mozilo (OK, I made that last part up - funny though, no?)

Central Valley Man Poster Child Of Mortgage Crisis

(CBS 5) SACRAMENTO Casey Serin could be the poster child for a lot of what went wrong in the real estate market.

The 24-year old web site designer bought eight homes in four states with no money down on a $50,000 a year salary.

"It was too easy because you know stated income loans; they call them liar loans in the industry," Serin said. "A lot of them the income is pushed and people state more than they really make in order to be able to qualify."

Serin wanted to buy and renovate run down homes and sell them for a profit.

He manipulated the system again by getting money back on each a sale for repairs and mortgage payments.

Three percent cash back is the max by California law. But Serin always got more.

"I either had to do it under the table, so to speak," Serin said. "Direct side contract with the seller, or do it through a third seller."

The house of cards began to collapse in the fall of 2005. Since then, home foreclosures hit record high levels. And massive loses have forced two dozen lenders out of business and another dozen are in trouble.

"My goal from the start was to create a business out of it. A legitimate business, but unfortunately I made some mistakes with the way I run the loans," Serin said.

It's a mistake a lot of people made and its helping cripple the housing market.

As subprime lending implodes, Angelo Mozilo is selling Countrywide shares as fast as he can

While putting out reassuring words to the street, false rumors of a pending acquisition by BofA, and holding back any information about what's really going on with CFC's imploding portfolio (Sarbanes-Oxley anyone?), this guy is dumping his shares as fast as possible, while his stock, industry and country's financial system melts down

Ah, only in America folks. Only in America.

Here's his soothing words the other day, from one of the largest subprime lenders in the US:

Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo said last month the company pulled back from subprime loans in 2006.

"If you look at our market share, we lost some for the first time in years, but it's all in the subprime area,'' he said in a Feb. 8 interview, adding the company holds only higher- quality prime loans at its bank. ``We were a dominant player, and now subprime is a pretty small portion of our business.''

And here's his trades just this year (note - I'm still gleefully short CFC)

2-Mar-07
46,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $441,600)
2-Mar-07
46,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $37.18 per share.(Proceeds of $1,710,280)
1-Mar-07
70,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $672,000)
1-Mar-07
70,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $37.10 per share.(Proceeds of $2,597,000)
28-Feb-07
46,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $441,600)
28-Feb-07
46,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $37.91 per share.(Proceeds of $1,743,859)
22-Feb-07
70,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $40.45 per share.(Proceeds of $2,831,500)
21-Feb-07
46,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $441,600)
21-Feb-07
46,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $40.77 per share.(Proceeds of $1,875,420)
21-Feb-07
70,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $672,000)
15-Feb-07
70,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $672,000)
15-Feb-07
70,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $41.88 per share.(Proceeds of $2,931,600)
13-Feb-07
46,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $441,600)
13-Feb-07
46,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $41.26 per share.(Proceeds of $1,897,960)
13-Feb-07
241,081
CFC
Acquisition (Non Open Market) at $0 per share.
12-Feb-07
70,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $672,000)
12-Feb-07
70,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $41.19 per share.(Proceeds of $2,883,300)
9-Feb-07
46,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $441,600)
9-Feb-07
46,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $43.69 per share.(Proceeds of $2,009,740)
8-Feb-07
70,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $672,000)
8-Feb-07
70,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $43.47 per share.(Proceeds of $3,042,900)
5-Feb-07
46,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $441,600)
5-Feb-07
46,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $44.61 per share.(Proceeds of $2,052,060)
2-Feb-07
70,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $672,000)
2-Feb-07
70,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $44.52 per share.(Proceeds of $3,116,400)
26-Jan-07
23,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $220,800)
26-Jan-07
23,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $40.40 per share.(Proceeds of $929,200)
24-Jan-07
70,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $672,000)
24-Jan-07
70,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $41.65 per share.(Proceeds of $2,915,500)
22-Jan-07
23,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $220,800)
22-Jan-07
23,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $41.27 per share.(Proceeds of $949,210)
19-Jan-07
70,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $672,000)
19-Jan-07
70,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $41.24 per share.(Proceeds of $2,886,800)
18-Jan-07
23,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $220,800)
18-Jan-07
23,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $40.35 per share.(Proceeds of $928,050)
11-Jan-07
23,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $220,800)
11-Jan-07
23,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $42.18 per share.(Proceeds of $970,140)
10-Jan-07
70,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $672,000)
10-Jan-07
70,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $42.12 per share.(Proceeds of $2,948,400)
8-Jan-07
70,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $672,000)
8-Jan-07
70,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $42.05 per share.(Proceeds of $2,943,500)
5-Jan-07
23,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $220,800)
5-Jan-07
23,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $42.37 per share.(Proceeds of $974,509)
4-Jan-07
70,000
CFC
Option Exercise at $9.60 per share. (Cost of $672,000)
4-Jan-07
70,000
CFC
Automatic Sale at $42.22 per share.(Proceeds of $2,955,400)