The Tan Man: Day of Reckoning
Chuck Ponzi June 4th, 2009
Much like California, it looks like our favorite Oompa Loompa of Calabasas riches is being charged with civil fraud.
The Tan Man sold somewhere near 300M of Countrywide stock, all the while reassuring investors that nothing was rotten in Denmark.
CNBC has a decent story, but Yahoo outlines it better:
Federal regulators on Thursday charged Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., and two other company executives with civil fraud.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s civil lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, also accuses Mozilo of illegal insider trading.
Countrywide was a major player in the subprime mortgage market, the collapse of which in 2007 touched off the financial crisis that has gripped the U.S. and global economies.
…
Civil fraud charges also were filed against Countrywide’s former chief operating officer David Sambol, 49, and ex-chief financial officer Eric Sieracki, 52.
The trio “deliberately misled” Countrywide shareholders, SEC enforcement director Robert Khuzami said at a news conference at agency headquarters. While they painted a picture of robust performance, the real Countrywide was “buckling under the weight” of soured mortgage loans, he added.
Khuzami said Mozilo reaped nearly $140 million in illicit profits from his stock sales.
Housing Panic would be proud. It looks like Keith finally got his request.
I have long said that the housing bubble would not be over until long after the perp walks have ended.
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Good. I’d like to see us recovering money from the guy though. Along with getting testimony from him and recovering money from the other executives as well.
Should be some of that with the big criminals at GS, C and a few other banks.
Not to mention reach backs to go after the bond holders and such.
Dawg sits back smug in the glow of vindication. “Joe” now “Chuck” you’ve been around long enough to remember when I regularly published his stock sales on HBB.