Overview

Angelo R. Mozilo co-founded Countrywide Financial Corporation in 1969 and built it into the largest mortgage lender in the United States; originating roughly one in five mortgages at its peak. Mozilo became the face of the subprime mortgage crisis that triggered the 2008 global financial meltdown. Under his leadership; Countrywide aggressively pushed subprime and adjustable-rate mortgages to borrowers who could not afford them; including through a notorious "Friends of Angelo" VIP loan program that provided sweetheart mortgage deals to politicians; Fannie Mae executives; and other influential figures who could help the company avoid regulatory scrutiny. Internal Countrywide emails; later revealed in litigation; showed Mozilo personally describing Countrywide's own loan products as "toxic" and "poison" in 2006 while publicly assuring investors the company was sound. He wrote in one email: "In all my years in the business I have never seen a more toxic product." The FBI described the company's lending practices as a contributing factor to what officials called an "epidemic" of mortgage fraud. Countrywide was acquired by Bank of America in 2008 for $4.1 billion in a fire sale; saddling BofA with tens of billions in legal liabilities. Mozilo personally earned over $470 million in compensation from 2000-2008; including $140 million from stock sales executed in the years before the collapse while he knew the loans were deteriorating. In 2010; the SEC charged Mozilo with securities fraud and insider trading. He settled for $67.5 million; with $45 million paid by Countrywide's (now BofA's) insurance. He never admitted wrongdoing and was never criminally charged; despite being personally responsible for practices that contributed to approximately 4 million foreclosures and the destruction of trillions of dollars in household wealth.

Key Affiliations

Controversies & Concerns

Related Investigations (2)

Sources & Documentation

3 documented sources from official records, investigations, and reports