SEC asked to probe Mozilo trades

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News item from this morning’s New York Times: ‘The Securities and Exchange Commission has been asked to investigate stock sales made by Angelo R. Mozilo, chief executive of the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, in the months before its shares plummeted amid the deepening mortgage crisis.’

The request came from North Carolina State Treasurer Richard Moore after a report in the Los Angeles Times indicated that Mozillo had twice changed his stock-selling plan recently to increase the number of shares he sells every month.

The N.Y. Times reports Mozilo has sold $300 million worth of company stock since 2005, including $4 million worth in the past three days.

Moore: ‘As an investor and a Countrywide shareholder, I was shocked to learn that C.E.O. Angelo Mozilo apparently manipulated his trading plans to cash in, just as the subprime crisis was heating up and Countrywide’s fortunes were cooling off.’

A Countrywide spokesperson declined to comment for the story.

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Photo Credit: Bloomberg
Hat tip: Michael Snyder