Mozilo off the hook.

Post #411,187 by a6l6e6x 6/17/16 5:00:15 PM 6/17/16 5:00:15 PM Reply	Mozilo off the hook. Bloomberg News via Charlotte Observer: U.S. prosecutors have abandoned their case against Angelo Mozilo, a pioneer of the risky subprime mortgages that fueled the financial crisis, after a two-year quest to bring a civil suit against him. o o o The Justice Department claimed the bank and Countrywide generated thousands of defective loans and sold them to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, now under government control. Countrywide sold the loans to boost revenue in the tightening credit market in mid-2007, according to the government. The program became known as the High Speed Swim Lane, or HSSL – later nicknamed The Hustle. He should have faced a firing squad! Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #411,189 by dmcarls 6/17/16 10:49:33 PM 6/17/16 10:49:33 PM Reply	Re: Mozilo off the hook. Decent book about that period, at your local library. They mention Mozilo in the book. Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street's Great Foreclosure Fraud https://www.amazon.com/Chain-Title-Americans-Uncovered-Foreclosure-ebook/dp/B01DV1YERY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466217988&sr=1-1&keywords=chain+of+title
Post #411,199 by Another Scott 6/18/16 11:22:30 AM 6/18/16 11:22:30 AM Reply	It would have been a tough case, apparently. NY Times (from 2014): But Stephanie Yonekura, the acting United States attorney for the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles, has had lingering questions about the litigation because of arguments raised by lawyers for Mr. Mozilo and other potential defendants, said the people briefed on the matter, who were not authorized to speak publicly about a current investigation. One argument raised by lawyers for Mr. Mozilo and some of the other defendants is that a civil fraud lawsuit would duplicate the efforts of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued Mr. Mozilo and two other former Countrywide executives in 2009. On the eve of the trial in 2010, Mr. Mozilo and the other defendants reached a settlement with the agency that required the mortgage financier to pay $67.5 million in fines and restitution. In settling that securities fraud and insider trading case, Mr. Mozilo and the two other former Countrywide officials, David Sambol and Eric Sieracki, neither admitted nor denied liability. In criminal law, a person generally cannot be charged with the same crime twice. There is nothing comparable in civil law, but the people briefed on the matter said lawyers for the defendants had claimed it would be unjust for two government agencies to bring two similar civil enforcement actions so many years apart. I don't know enough about this stuff, but it seems likely that prosecution would have been difficult. The Feds have gone after Mozilo (see above) and Countrywide for lots of stuff so it's not like they've been passive in suing them when they think they have a decent case. FWIW. Cheers, Scott.
Post #411,202 by a6l6e6x 6/18/16 4:17:52 PM 6/18/16 4:17:52 PM Reply	There's law and there's justice and the law failed us here. The man headed up an organization that perpetrated mortgage fraud! From Wikipedia: Mozilo's compensation during the United States housing bubble of 2001–06 later came under scrutiny. During that period, his total compensation (including salary, bonuses, options and restricted stock) approached $470 million.[6] His compensation also included payment for equity memberships and annual country club dues at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, CA, The Quarry at La Quinta golf club in La Quinta, California and at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia. o o o On October 15, 2010, Mozilo reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over securities fraud and insider trading charges. Mozilo agreed to pay $67.5 million in fines, and accepted a lifetime ban from serving as an officer or director of any public company. 0 days in jail! I'll take that deal any day. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov

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