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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Countrywide’s Mozilo exits stage a fallen hero

Angelo R. Mozilo struggled last week to bid farewell to No. 1 home lender Countrywide Financial Corp., the company he led for 39 years only to see it toppled by misadventures in high-risk mortgages. The usually silk-smooth Mozilo garbled words and at one point knocked over his microphone at a special shareholder meeting. Looking grim and sounding resigned, he said the era of independent home lenders like Calabasas-based Countrywide was at an end. Still, he added, “Countrywide is a great American story.” Few would dispute that assertion. But as Bank of America Corp. takes over Countrywide today, some observers are portraying Mozilo as the headstrong protagonist in the lender’s saga who became blinded by ambition and pride — and helped create the national housing fiasco. For the full story visit http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mozilo1-2008jul01,0,6338510.story

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