Free Republic

At the end of last week's letter on the whole mortgage foreclosure mess, I wrote: "All those subprime and Alt-A mortgages written in the middle of the last decade? They were packaged and sold in securities. They have had huge losses. But those securities had representations and warranties about what was in them. And guess what, the investment banks may have stretched credibility about those warranties. There is the real probability that the investment banks that sold them are going to have to buy them back. We are talking the potential for multiple hundreds of billions of dollars in losses...

I pity CEO Brian Moynihan and the 284,000 other employees of Bank of America Corp (BAC). That includes 15,000 Merrill Lynch brokers who are still recovering from the financial crisis and now have to explain to their clients why they work for a firm that is at the epicenter of America’s housing crisis. Not only have they seen $80 billion in stock market value evaporate since April but they also have to suffer the humiliation of having a parent company bone-headed enough to pay $4 billion for Countrywide, the financial firm created by subprime mortgage pimp Angelo Mozilo. That mess...

Dick Blumenthal has tried to cast himself as a white knight in the Countrywide Mortgage scandal that forced Chris Dodd into retirement after the exposure of his sweetheart mortgage deals under the “Friends of Angelo” program at Countrywide. Blumenthal points to his $8.6 billion settlement with Bank of America over the mortgage giant’s remaining loans, one that supposedly “won’t cost taxpayers a dime,” as an example of his beneficial work for Connecticut voters and his ability to get tough with fraudsters. Linda McMahon takes aim at this argument with her new ad released yesterday titled “Taking Care,” which alleges that...

Just days before the start of his sensational trial, junk mortgage king Angelo Mozilo agreed to pay $67.5 million to settle fraud charges and avoid any public humiliation in court. Mozilo, the former CEO of Countrywide Financial, was the highest-ranking executive prosecuted following the financial collapse in 2008 due to toxic mortgage paper. Countrywide was one of the nation's largest originators of subprime loans. Their trial on charges of fraud and insider trading was set to open next week. Mozilo, who wasn't in the courtroom yesterday, agreed to give up $45 million in ill-gotten profits from illegal trades in Countrywide...

LOS ANGELES (TheStreet) -- Countrywide's former Chairman, CEO and co-founder Angelo Mozilo and two other top ranking officials will pay a combined $73 million to settle with the Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading investors as the subprime mortgage crisis emerged. Without admitting any wrongdoing, Mozilo, 71, agreed to repay $45 million in "ill-gotten" gains to settle the SEC's disclosure violation and insider trading charges against him and another $22.5 million in civil penalties, the SEC said on Friday.

LOS ANGELES—Former Countrywide Financial Corp. Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo agreed to pay $67.5 million in financial penalties to settle the Securities and Exchange Commission's high-profile civil fraud suit against him. The two other defendants in the case, former Countrywide President David Sambol and former Chief Financial Officer Eric Sieracki, also reached settlements with the SEC. Mr. Sambol agreed to pay just over $5.5 million in penalties while Mr. Sieracki agreed to pay $130,000. All three defendants, who reached the settlements without admitting or denying wrongdoing, also agreed to injunctions against future violations of securities law. Additionally, Mr. Mozilo agreed to...

Florida foreclosure law firms were using the same "robo-signer"-type practices to repossess homes that tripped up the nation's major lenders, a signal, defense attorneys argue, that should lead to a larger foreclosure moratorium. Banks that have not pulled back on foreclosure sales and evictions, such as lender CitiMortgage, gave firms power of attorney to sign documents on their behalf. In turn, some firms created assembly-line signing systems to keep up with bank deadlines on foreclosure cases.

  Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) received up to six sweetheart home loans from Countrywide Financial, even though he has only publicly admitted to accepting two special deals, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The revelations were brought to light by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, raising questions about a previous Senate ethics committee investigation into Dodd’s dealings with Countrywide that just disclosed information about two of the loans. In 2008, Dodd was accused of accepting two very favorable home loans in 2003 from Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo, through the bank’s “Friends of Angelo” program....

Democrats claim their sweeping financial-sector reforms will guard against the kind of problems that triggered the recent economic meltdown. But if they really wanted to do that, they would've focused on how so many US officials were simply . . . bought. Fat chance. Nonetheless, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform, is demanding just such a review -- and, for the sake of the nation, he should get one. Last week, Issa wrote to Alfred Pollard, general counsel to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,...

Color me a little surprised that CBS covered this story this week — and credit it to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who has doggedly “followed the money” in this scandal for the last two years. While we knew about the Friends of Angelo program that counted Chris Dodd and others on Capitol Hill among its beneficiaries, the scale of the income involved for Fannie Mae execs and their reach within government is certainly worth a much closer look.

It's a tally of Countrywide loans extended on preferential terms to workers at the government-backed mortgage companies. The count was released Tuesday by Rep. Darrell Issa, who sent a letter to Fannie (FNMA) and Freddie's (FMCC) federal regulator requesting that the loans be investigated. This is not Issa's first bite at the rotten Countrywide apple. The California Republican has been investigating the big subprime lender's efforts to cash in on the mortgage boom by pulling strings in Congress. He was behind the release of last year's "Friends of Angelo" report, which rehashed the favorable terms longtime Countrywide chief Angelo Mozilo...

Countrywide probe snares Fannie, Freddie execs By: Jake Sherman July 20, 2010 02:34 PM EDT Employees at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — including top executives — received more than 170 cut rate loans from Countrywide Financial, according to a congressional probe, the latest accusation that the lender tried to curry influence with people in power. The investigation revealed that Fannie Mae employees — including an assistant to the CEO, a government relations lobbyist and a vice president for sales — received 153 favorable loans, while 20 VIP loans were issued to employees at Freddie Mac. Countrywide Financial collapsed in...

Washington • Sen. Bob Bennett said Thursday he was unaware that anyone on his staff got special home loans through CountryWide Finance Corp. as alleged in a congressional letter delivered to the Senate Ethics Committee. But the Utah Republican said he would cooperate fully with any ethics investigation that takes place. “I do not have a loan with CountryWide and I do not inquire as to where my staffers go to get their mortgages,” Bennett said in an interview with The Tribune. “I have full faith in the integrity of the staff and the matter is going to be in...

U.S. senators or Senate employees received 30 loans—far more than had previously been known—under a controversial lending program at Countrywide Financial Corp. that provided cut-rate terms to favored borrowers. The information is contained in a letter sent to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics by Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), who has been spearheading the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's investigation into Countrywide's so-called VIP mortgage program.

WASHINGTON — As Senator Christopher J. Dodd completed what might be the capstone of his legislative career last week by shepherding a major banking overhaul through the Senate, the guest book in his office offered a glimpse of why he is not seeking re-election. It includes these recent greetings from visitors who stopped by to pay their disrespects: “Good bye and good riddance to you,” wrote one guest on May 16. “I know it’s tough, but I expected better,” said another (April 15). “Thank you for being corrupt” (March 26).

Election 2010: The back-to-back Senate retirements of Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd may be just the beginning. The people have seen the future of health care reform and found it doesn't work. Apres moi, le deluge. We don't know what the Mayan calendar says about 2010, but it's starting to look like the end of the world for Democratic electoral prospects. Americans who watched in shock as government tried to step between them and their doctors, may have the last laugh. The tea party isn't over until the angry mob votes. As rage grew over the attempt to nationalize one-sixth...

WASHINGTON – Sen. Christopher Dodd's decision to retire at the end of the year increases the chances of a Senate overhaul of Wall Street regulations that is bipartisan and friendlier to the financial sector than what President Barack Obama may want. Political strategists from both parties and financial sector lobbyists say Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is now free from re-election considerations and fundraising demands to cut a deal with Republicans without fear of alienating liberal voters. "The political motivations associated with Chairman Dodd's re-election are now gone from the regulatory process," said Scott Talbott, senior lobbyist...

Biden: Dodd is 'getting the living hell beat out of him' Posted: December 11th, 2009 05:17 PM ET From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser Washington (CNN) – Joe Biden praised Sen. Chris Dodd Friday, but conceded his good friend - one of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats - is "getting the living hell beat of him." The vice president made his comments at a fundraiser for Dodd Friday in Hartford, Connecticut. Dodd had been scheduled to accompany Biden at the fundraiser and at event earlier in the day to announce nearly $4 million in federal stimulus funding to replace...

A wide ranging congressional investigation into Countrywide Financial will dig into how the mortgage giant went about picking government officials to offer its VIP program, according to aides involved with the inquiry. Thanks to an agreement between Republicans and Democrats reached late Friday night, any name of a member of Congress involved in the VIP program will head straight to the ethics committee, while redacted copies of those documents will be given to the House Oversight and Government Reform. But the committee has cast a much wider net, looking into whether lobbyists or others in Washington helped identify mid-level Hill...

Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee agreed Friday night on language for a wide-reaching subpoena of Countrywide Financial’s VIP lending program as part of an investigation into allegations of influence peddling by the company at all levels of government, committee aides said. The subpoena, which was sent out Friday night, will ask the lender to fork over documents relating to its “Friends of Angelo” program – named for CEO Angelo Mozilo, who allegedly offered favorable mortgage rates to persons of influence.