I haven't got time to track it down but isn't Countrywide associated in some way with the Freddie Mac / Fannie Mae scandal in the US - arranging mortgages on "sweetheart" terms for politicians ?

(or was this too obvious to everyone except me to need saying)

A quick search for "friends of Angelo Mozilo" will tell you more than enough...

Natalie - Countrywide were famous for having the loosest lending criteria in the industry, not requiring documentation, etc. Anybody could get a mortgage loan from them. As I recall, they were one of, if not the, first lenders to get into difficulties.

Clearly he is a fraudulent massiah.

One expects regular arrests of the captains of the Pakistan national cricket team, and perhaps the occasional South African captain too. Until now I have thought better of the Americans, however.

From the description it sounds like garden-variety mortgage fraud, which unfortuantely was all too common during the height of the real estate boom. Frankly, I'm glad to see it being prosecuted; too many people (including too many prosecutors) seem to think that it's a "victimless crime" and not worth worrying about.

None of which is to excuse Countrywide or any other financial institutions who committed illegal acts. But the truth is that there weren't all that many of them. Sloppy documentation practices and stupid underwriting, yes, but actual fraud, not so much.

"He's not the Massiah, he's a very naughty boy!(Link)"

The US has a national cricket team? Who knew? It's not like anyone ever actually sees them playing.

All those years whilst ESPN was in search of big time sports programming contracts and inflicting dwarfaxe tossing and water ski jumping on us at 3 a.m. did they ever trot out the mythical US Nat'l Cricket team? Noooooo. We did get an occasional hour of Sumo highlights, though never anything about Buzkashi.

I did whine at ESPN once about the unpersonhood of cricket on their network. About a week later the 11pm edition of sportscenter did a 3 minute highlights thing on the then ongoing world cup (2004, iirc) and nothing since.

Laird: actual fraud, not so much.

Well, aside from the massive accounting fraud at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and mortgages issued to unqualified buyers and then "securitized" as "AAA", and mortgages issued against fraudulent property evaluations, and multiple "flip" sales of a property to inflate its nominal price...

Natalie: Countrywide was a major issuer of sub-prime mortgages, interest-only mortgages, nothing-down mortgages, and similar instruments. Fannie and Freddie bought these mortgages from Countrywide.

Rich, accounting fraud is simply generic fraud; it has nothing particular to do with mortgages. Google "Enron" if you need to know more. Making loans to unqualified borrowers falls under the category of "stupid lending", but it's not fraud. Property flips and fraudulent valuations are borrower fraud, which is where this thread started. So I stand by my statement.

Making loans to unqualified borrowers falls under the category of "stupid lending", but it's not fraud

It may still be illegal, however. Not doing proper due diligence before lending your shareholders and depositors money may well be a breach of your fiduciary duty to them.

I agree completely with the main point, though. Borrowing money under false pretenses (lying about your assents and income) is fraud, pure and simple. I too would like to see it prosecuted more often.

I see your point, Michael, but having poor underwriting guidelines isn't the same thing as "not doing proper due diligence" and isn't (necessarily) a breach of fiduciary duty. I think most courts would reject the argument on the basis of the Business Judgment Rule.

I know this may not serve as an excuse in the court of law (as if any of this is ever likely to go to court - dream on), but I thought I'd mention it nonetheless, just in case.

Not really, Alisa, as ACORN (and the CRA) were only a small part of the overall problem. But it's still good to see them in a spot of difficulty, even though it's only cosmetic (those cockroaches will just scuttle into another home and continue to be just as vile).

Laird, I brought them up not as part of the overall problem (which indeed was not very significant), but as part of the (sub)problem of lending to financially unqualified individuals - there ACORN and CRA have apparently played quite a significant role. So did Obama, BTW. Just making sure no one forgets that.