Countrywide is both an albatross and a boon for Brian Moynihan. Sure, it’s the reason for all of Bank of America’s troubles, but it’s also really convenient to have such a reason.
This, however, is less convenient: Read more »
Angelo Mozilo
In June 2008, Countrywide founder and CEO Angelo Mozilo stood before a group of CFC shareholders and, through salty tears, told them that Bank of America would “reap the benefits of what we have sowed.” He wasn’t kidding, and in the 4+ years since Ken Lewis paid $4 billion for the place, BofA has had the pleasure of ponying up an additional $40 billion (and counting) in write-downs and legal fees associated with cleaning up Countrywide’s messes, while CEO Brian Moynihan has publicly described the acquisition as an albatross around his neck. Additionally, Ang Moz forked over $67.5 million in 2010 to “resolve SEC claims that he misled investors,” and separately, there has been talk by some that Countrywide contributed in no small way to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. In light of all that, does Ang Moz, have any regrets about the way his company was run? Not a fucking one and if he had to do it all over? He wouldn’t change a thing. Read more »
Are You A Financial Services Company Stuffed To Gills With Toxic Assets And/Or On The Verge Of Bankruptcy? Don’t Hold Your Breath For Brian Moynihan’s Call
By Bess Levin
Time was, Bank of America loved buying companies. Bonus points if there was a not-so-subtle suggestion by the target’s CEO that BofA would one day be very sorry for doing so, or that they would’ve been better off picking up an asbestos manufacturer, or that they were looking at roughly $40 billion (and counting) in legal fees associated with fuck-ups that were to become Bank of America’s problem, or that they would have night terrors for the rest of their lives about signing those papers. As it’s been a while since BofA went shopping, some in the financial services industry have been wondering if we can expect any announcements re: big deals anytime soon or if Ken Lewis’s unsolicited suggestions (Groupon, Sino Forest, The Thirsty Beaver, and most recently: “a P&C insurer with outsized exposure to the Northeast”) are or have ever been under consideration. Read more »
Remember when Bank of America bought Countrywide in 2008 and CFC Chief Executive Officer/Oracle Angelo Mozilo said they wouldn’t be sorry and it wouldn’t be long before BofA would “reap what Countrywide hath sowed“? He wasn’t kidding and now, finally, BAC and Ken Lewis, the guy who had the foresight to do the deal, are having their vision and skills recognized. Read more »
Remember, back in ’08, when Angelo Mozilo cried while telling a bunch of Countrywide shareholders that Bank of America, which had just bought the place, would “reap the benefits of what we have sowed“? Obviously that was was Moz-Speak for “you’re about to find out what it’s like to be forcibly sodomized for all eternity,” but at the time, some people wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was leaving some neat stuff behind, like buried treasure or something. We now know that, actually, one of the things that the home lender had been “sowing” for a number of years was the basis of a Department of Justice investigation into the fact that the company made it a policy to dick over Hispanic and black people, one of the many gifts Brian Moynihan has been unwrapping since he took over. Read more »
Angelo Mozilo, June 26, 2008: “Bank of America will reap the benefits of what we have sowed.”
August 31, 2011: Read more »
Angelo Mozilo, June 26, 2008: “Bank of America will reap the benefits of what we have sowed.”
Chris Kotowski, January 24, 2011: Read more »
So far those on Team “I’m here for the gang bang” include PIMCO, BlackRock, MetLife, TCW Group and the NY Fed but there is always room for one more. Surely someone else out there is feeling incensed about some stuff that went down at Countrywide and is looking to take action.
In related news, I know this must seem like bad news for Bank of America and maybe it is. But let’s focus on the positive– it’s great news for someone and that someone is [drum-roll please]…ANGELO MOZILO, PROVEN ORACLE! For those whose memories don’t go back further than last night, recall that on June 26, 2008, His Orangeness had this to say at the last CFC shareholder meeting:
Bank of America “will reap the benefits of what we have sowed.”
“The former Countrywide Financial Corp. chief agreed Friday to a settlement that requires him to pay 16 cents out of his own pocket for every dollar federal authorities claimed he had taken out of the company in ill-gotten personal gains.” [HP]
As part of the settlement, the regulator agreed to allow the Countrywide founder to drop the money in small denominations from his private jet, over a cattle ranch in Montana, where SEC staffers will have 30 minutes to scurry around picking up every ever last bill,** en route to a much needed visit to Fresno, where Moz likes to pop in every now and then for the ego boosts derived from thinking about how many people he and his associates fucked in town. [CNN Money]
**Gotta let him have a LITTLE fun, given how disproportionately harsh the sentencing was to the crime, which people can hardly even remember.
When it comes down to it, there are two types of people in this world. Those who, when asked the question, what is Angelo Mozilo’s race, answer “African American,” and those who answer “Tanning bed-Orange.” Thanks to today’s hearing on the hill, and the the Senate’s 600+ page report on Wamu’s death, we now know that former CEO Kerry Killinger was proud to count himself among the latter. Read more »
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