Business Photo Slideshows

Angelo Mozilo

The Countrywide C.E.O., a son of a Bronx butcher who co-founded the company in 1969, okayed a little-known program at the company that waived points, lender fees, and company borrowing rules for prominent people.

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Christopher Dodd

Photo by Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images

Democratic senator from Connecticut saved about $75,000 on the life of two loans through Countrywide, which waived three-eighths of a point on one and one-fourth of a point on the other. A former Countrywide employee says the float-downs were free. Countrywide contributed $21,000 to Dodd's campaigns since 1997.

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Kent Conrad

Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times/Redux

Democratic senator from North Dakota refinanced an eight-unit apartment building with a loan that violated Countrywide's policy of providing loans for buildings of four units or fewer. Countrywide C.E.O. Angelo Mozilo told a subordinate to "make an exception due to the fact that the borrower is a senator" and to "take off one point," or $10,000, on another loan.

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Richard Holbrooke

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations got one and one-fourth points, or $15,000, waived on a loan for his Telluride, Colorado, vacation home. "Per Angelo this loan is to be at zero points," a Countrywide manager wrote in a February 20, 2003, email. Holbrooke's son David received a half-point discount on a loan that same year.

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Donna Shalala

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former Secretary of Health and Human Services received two V.I.P. loans for $338,685 and $202,300 in 2002. They were given "special consideration," and one staffer wrote that Shalala's loans were "ready to close...I floated both of them down to current pricing."

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Alphonso Jackson

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Jackson borrowed $346,331 and $308,000 from Countrywide in 2003. The loans came through on January 21, 2004, a week before President Bush named him secretary of the Housing and Urban Development agency.

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James Johnson

Photo by Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg News /Landov

In 2003, Countrywide waived points for the former chief executive of Fannie Mae, saving him about $37,000. When he came back for a $3 million loan to upgrade a 5,875-square-foot home and estate, the size of the loan exceeded Countrywide's limit for a second home, but Mozilo told an employee to "do the deal."

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