Angelo R. Mozilo, the man who built Countrywide Financial, has finally been charged with securities fraud and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition to generating $140 million in profits from 2005-007 by selling stock in the company - as the company's share price was tanking - the suit alleges that Mozilo misled investors about growing risks in the company’s lending practices. Mozilo was doing all of this at the same time that he was going to the federal government for bailout money, which they were then calling "loans."
If the feds get this right, they should be able to make Mozilo the first of many poster boys for what went wrong in the mortgage lending markets. I say that as long as they're going after him for fraud they should also consider using RICO statutes to catch him for criminal intent too.
Sure, RICO laws are used mostly for the mob. But what else do you call the shake down that the finance and mortgage industry are putting on the American taxpayer?- Mark
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