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Former Countrywide Financial CEO 'charged with fraud crimes'

Published on 5 Jun 2009 under category: legal

The former chief executive of US mortgage lender Countrywide Financial has been charged with fraud crimes by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Angelo Mozilo, along with David Sambol and Eric Sieracki, allegedly misled their investors about the risks that the organisation was taking.

Rosaline Tyson, director of the SEC's Los Angeles regional office, claims that he had access to information about the organisation's operations.

She says: "He knew that Countrywide was gambling with increasingly risky mortgages and he kept those details from investors while he was actively taking his own chips off the table."

Among the allegations are that Countrywide's 2006 annual report claimed the organisation had been providing prudently underwritten mortgages while it was taking risky loans.

Earlier this month, findings from BSI revealed that 20 per cent of businesses have broken the Data Protection Act 1998.

It states that 18 per cent of companies are not sure whether or not they have complied with the legislation.