Report: Countrywide CEO Cashed Out(Before Crash)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CBS News

Countrywide Financial Corp. Chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo cashed in $138 million in stock options over the last year, switching his trading plans as the mortgage company went into a tailspin, it was reported Saturday.

Between November 2006 and August, Mozilo changed the plans outlining how many of his shares would be sold monthly, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Mozilo unloaded 4.9 million Countrywide shares, most of which he bought through exercising options.

Hundreds of executives use similar trading plans, approved by federal regulators in 2000 as a way to defend against insider trading allegations. While not illegal, it is highly unusual for the plans to be changed so often in a short period, experts said.

"If a guy is changing his plan around, I would think that would send up a red flag. I wouldn't allow my clients to do it," said Thom F. Carroll, a financial planner with the Baltimore wealth management firm Carroll, Frank & Plotkin.


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/29/business/main3311669.shtml

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Enron redux!

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Guess he went to the ENRON school of corporate management.

[Snarkoleptic]

7. Industry insiders have referred to Countrywide as 'Lendron' for some time now.

[chervilant]

28. More like

The Arthur Andersen School of Accounting Wizardry...

Apparently, he flunked his OWLS--Overcharge Whilst Liquidating Stocks.

[daninthemoon]

2. Isn't that a surprise.

[SpiralHawk]

3. What a bunch of republicons

typical

[dweller]

17. it's their MO ... I get rich !

everybody else gets screwed.

dp

[lligrd]

4. Can Hardly Blame Them

Didn't take insider trader knowledge to foresee this happening, just common sense.

[Snarkoleptic]

5. The rank and file call him "Leatherface" due to his perpetual sunburn...

[laylah]

6. Unfortunately, these

bastards hold my mortgage. Every time I turn around, it seems they are charging some fee or another for what, I have no idea. My ex sent in >$600 for June's payment and the assholes applied it to escrow and now won't give it back OR alott is as intended. Creeps. Mozillo is no better than Lay or the rest of the corrupt corporate whores!

[InkAddict]

18. That sounds very, very familiar.

Malevolent sharks...THINK JAWS!

[datavg]

30. I Took One Look At Him...

...said to my wife that if he isn't in the mob, I'll kiss her ass in the middle of Hollywood and Vine.

[Baby Snooks]

35. They're the madams...

They're the madams. The whores are the ones in Congress who they buy to change the laws to make their illegal activity legal. And keep it legal. Most thought after Enron that there would be reform. Because Congress said there would be. So much for reform. And for Congress.

[Mike03]

8. Sadly, I'm not the least bit surprised

In fact, when that story crossed the newswire, I just assumed that upper management had sold inside shares.

[Mike03]

9. Countrywide continued to advertise on

CNBC for weeks after it was known they were in trouble. How is that for cynical?

[BadgerLaw2010]

10. This has been widely known for a while. MozillA has been selling all the way down.

[4dsc]

11. Haven't seen any Countrywide commercials lately??

I guess they cannot afford to advertise either..

[Terre]

16. I see them all the time still

Check out the Science Channel, Discovery, History, History International. You shouldn't have to wait too long for one.

[mountainvue]

12. According to an article in the New York Times, he's

sold $406,000,000 since 1984.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/business/yourmoney/26country.html?_r=1&em&ex=1188187200&en=7d4bbc9eea101597&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin

[PghTiny]

13. Betcha Orangelo will skip town

His face would match perfectly with an orange jumpsuit. For more reading about the housing meltdown, check out Dr. Housing Bubble http://drhousingbubble.blogspot.com or Housing Panic http://housingpanic.blogspot.com

[Duppers]

36. OT

I ck.'d out your personal site's joke page, some of which are pretty funny, but too many reeked of elephant poop.

posting just to alert others. we're just sensitive about trolls around here.

I hope I'm wrong about you.

[Hosnon]

14. He should go to jail and when he gets out, the SEC should not let him

run a public company.

[judaspriestess]

15. Gee I wonder if this dude will all of a sudden die of a

'heart attack' and have a closed casket funeral.....

[JeanGrey]

19. Excuse me? Changing his plan around?

You've got to be joking!!! This guy obviously knew what was coming, talk about insider trading! And we put Martha Stewart in prison for this? While this idiot got his money out and threw the people to the wolves? :grr:

[jazzjunkysue]

20. So if countrywide folds I don't have to pay my mortgage?

:evilgrin:

[laylah]

21. As I stated upthread

they hold my mortgage also. Actually, that IS a good question. What will happen if they fold? I would assume the mortgages would be sold to another company? I like your idea much better, though.

[BadgerLaw2010]

26. Your mortgage is one of the assets they have. If they liquidate, it will be sold to someone else.

I doubt they are going to liquidate. Too much money tied up in them now from banks who the Fed wouldn't let take serious damage, and Countrywide is also one of the obligated buyers of US T-bills.

They'll be bailed out no matter how bad it gets.

[Bitwit1234]

22. Isn't is against the law.

[tabasco]

23. Hey that's how the wonderful free market works!

He EARNED that money for doing such a great job as CEO.

We certainly wouldn't want any government interference with business.

[kestrel91316]

24. Another candidate for the Pretzeldential Medal of Freedom.....

[Democrats_win]

25. Grapes of Wrath. A guillotine will be our terrible swift sword.

[InkAddict]

27. Be sure to check your scarf for messages; I'm taking up knitting.

http://knitting.activist.ca/manifesto.html




For the pain!

[Baby Snooks]

29. Stop doing business with Countrywide!

If you are in California and have money in their bank, pull it out. If you have stock in Countrywide, sell it. If you have a loan with Countrywide and can afford to, refinance it with someone else. If you are one of the few who can qualify for a loan and are planning to make loan application, don't make it with Countrywide.

If they go under because no one will do business with them, maybe the board of directors of Countrywide will get the message. Along with the board of directors of other corporations that believe greed is a virtue.

The Fed lowered its rates for Mr. Mozilo and the other crooks so they could stay afloat. While continuing to enrich themselves off of us. That is the only reason why they lower the rates. Some of us do benefit when they do. Most of us, really, do not. Only the crooks do.

Mia Farrow was polite about "divestment" in Fidelity and other corporations that do business with China which does business with Sudan which supports the genocide in Darfur. Why be polite? Boycott them. Don't do business with them or with anyone who does.

If you see Countrywide on a list of supporters or sponsors of a concert, don't go and then call and tell the promoter you won't attend concerts sponsored by Countrwide. Same thing with charities.

Money is power. We forget that. It is our money they are enriching themselves off of. So stop giving them the money. And take away their power while reminding them of your own. And reminding yourself as well.

[Autumn Colors]

33. Unfortunately, I don't have much of a choice

I got a mortgage with my local bank and closed in June. My first payment in August was to my bank and then they sold my loan to Countrywide. I'm only three payments into my mortgage. Can't refinance at this point and even though, I put money down, if the value of my house falls to below the amount of my mortgage, no one is going to refinance my loan. It's a 30-year fixed mortgage, so at least I have that in my favor. Guess I'll just have to sit and wait and see what happens over the next couple of years.

[Baby Snooks]

34. There are other ways...

There are other ways to "divest" yourself - there are two places where the American people can exercise their power. The first is at the polls. The second is at the cash register. And of the two the cash register is the most powerful. As one cartoonist captioned Nancy Reagan in a parody of her "Just Say No" campaign after Ronald Reagan discovered the "marketability" of former presidents, "Just say Dough."

Money talks. And it talks loudest when it walks.

[quiet.american]

31. Watching his smug mug on a financial show during Countrywide's meltdown, there was no doubt.

Smug, unruffled, giving assurances that Countrywide had been through this sort of thing before and would come through okay -- this was shortly before the company laid off thousands of employees -- there was no doubt in my mind he'd already gotten his. What's to worry? Especially since the looting was done legally. Really disgusting.

[olddad56]

32. Corporate America would have lost faith in him if he had behaved in any other way.

[Joanne98]

37. Put him in prison!

[peacetheonlyway]

38. Eye for an Eye, Make Angelo Mozilo Give his MOney to folks defaulting on their mortgages

I dream sometimes that I'm president for a day.

One of my first actions would be to make This CEO crook give his money back, to each of the folks who are defaulting on their mortgages, make him call them one by one and wire the money to their individual accounts until every last red cent was gone ..

and then put the fucker in jail.

that's what i'd do if I was president for a day, multiplied by ever CEO of every fortune 500 company.

they're all crooks.

[earth mom]

39. Enron redux is right!

:grr:

I shudder to think what's coming next. :scared:

[msmcghee]

40. The whole stock market scam is just a way . .

. . to transfer money from people who don't have much to people who already have a lot of it but want more.

Of course, insiders trade on their knowledge. Can anyone with a minimum of intelligence imagine that this CEO was ready to see several hundred million dollars less in his bank account at the end of the year - because he was on the honor system and didn't want to take advantage of investors who didn't know what was going on with Countrywide's assets?

C'mon people. Wake up.