CALABASAS, CA-The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s fraud case against Angelo Mozilo, the former CEO of locally based Countrywide Financial Corp., is heading to trial on Oct. 19 after a federal judge refused to dismiss the charges. US District Judge John Walter in Los Angeles on Sept. 16 rejected motions filed by Mozilo, the most prominent executive targeted by federal regulators over the subprime mortgage crisis, and two other defendants, Countrywide's former president David Sambol and former chief financial officer Eric Sieracki.
Walter said that the SEC had “raised genuine issues of material fact” that Countrywide’s executives made false and misleading statements or omitted certain facts relating to its lending practices—in particular, expanding its underwriting guidelines and offering riskier pay option loans, says the National Law Journal.
The SEC filed its complaint last year alleging that Countrywide and its executives failed to tell investors about the risky loans it was giving out from 2005 to 2007 to borrowers with below-average credit histories. During 2006 and 2007, the suit says, as Mozilo was reassuring investors about Countrywide’s future, he sold $140 million in his own stock.
For the full story, go to the National Law Journal.
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Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
