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Angelo's Friends

Jun 13 2008

Back to: Countrywide's Many 'Friends'

Angelo Mozilo
Senator Christopher Dodd
Senator Kent Conrad
Richard Holbrooke
Donna Shalala
Alphonso Jackson
James Johnson
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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.
Christopher Dodd
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.
Kent Conrad
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.
Richard Holbrooke
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.
Donna Shalala
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."
Alphonso Jackson
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.
James Johnson
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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