Cart (0)
VIDEORags to Riches CEOs: Angelo Mozilo
By
Josh Lipton Nov 18, 2009 8:00 am
The son a butcher lived high on the hog -- and crashed with the market he owned.
 |
|
Angelo Mozilo, the former boss of Countrywide Financial Corporation, was once thought of as a business icon in this country with his camera-ready smile, perma-tanned complexion, and white-collared blue shirts.
A hard charging, relentless competitor, the New York native earned a fortune and transformed the business he co-founded into a legendary powerhouse: America’s biggest mortgage lender.
Today, the bantam-sized Mozilo is a disgraced man, holed up in his mansion in California.
Now described as “Mr. Subprime himself”, he faces the wrath of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The government contends that the former executive deliberately mislead investors about its risky lending practices and took part in insider trading.
It says that he pocketed $140 million in profits by trading his company's stock at a time when he was aware of "material, non-public" information about Countrywide's financials.
Mozilo has always maintained he never misled anybody, calling the allegations baseless and vowing to fight Uncle Sam. But in a recent court decision, US District Judge John Walter denied a request by Mozillo to dismiss the SEC's fraud charges.
The government’s lawyers better arrive in that courtroom prepared for a tough fight: Mozilo is a tenacious, blunt talking scrapper, a self-made man that built a nationwide empire from scratch with just one partner, a loan, and a vision of industry domination.There are those Fortune 500 executives groomed from day one for the C-suite life. Angelo Mozilo wasn’t one of them. Raised in the Bronx, Mozilo was the son of a butcher that began working for his dad at the age of 10, chopping chickens.
From the beginning, the future CEO wasn’t afraid to tango with anybody that got in his way, especially neighborhood bullies that made the mistake of messing with him.
“I won,” Mozili remembered. “He turned away first.”
Mozilo’s father, the son of an Italian immigrant, had never graduated from high school. He wanted his boy to take over the family business rather than attend college.
Mozilo’s mother, however, had other ideas.
As detailed in a recent New Yorker profile, Mama Mozilo never got over the day her own father took her out of the ninth grade and sent her to work in a clothing factory. She was determined that her own five children would go to college, and they all did.
No positions in stocks mentioned.
The information on this website solely reflects the analysis of or opinion about the performance of securities and financial markets by the writers whose articles appear on the site. The views expressed by the writers are not necessarily the views of Minyanville Media, Inc. or members of its management. Nothing contained on the website is intended to constitute a recommendation or advice addressed to an individual investor or category of investors to purchase, sell or hold any security, or to take any action with respect to the prospective movement of the securities markets or to solicit the purchase or sale of any security. Any investment decisions must be made by the reader either individually or in consultation with his or her investment professional. Minyanville writers and staff may trade or hold positions in securities that are discussed in articles appearing on the website. Writers of articles are required to disclose whether they have a position in any stock or fund discussed in an article, but are not permitted to disclose the size or direction of the position. Nothing on this website is intended to solicit business of any kind for a writer's business or fund. Minyanville management and staff as well as contributing writers will not respond to emails or other communications requesting investment advice.
Copyright 2011 Minyanville Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2011 Minyanville Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
