Angelo Mozilo

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Angelo Mozilo

CNBC Blinded By Lavish Lifestyle Of Another Alleged Ponzi Schemer

Zachary Roth | December 1, 2009, 2:47PM

Tim Durham

Jon Stewart has already cornered the market on lampooning CNBC for the chronic lack of skepticism that characterized its coverage of the financial world during the boom years.

But the network's failure wasn't just a case of cheer-leading for Wall Street banks that made bad bets on the housing market. Both before and after last fall's financial crisis, CNBC has lavished fawning coverage on several high-flying financiers who later, say prosecutors, turned out to be little more than frauds. And this past week offered the latest example.

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Topics: Allen Stanford, Angelo Mozilo, CNBC, Countrywide, Financial Crisis, Jon Stewart, Media, Tim Durham, Wall Street

Well, Duh: SEC To Sue Angelo Mozilo For Insider Trading

Moe Tkacik | May 13, 2009, 7:23PM

Huge surprise: the SEC is mobilizing to sue sue former Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo for insider trading.

Perhaps no one made so much money so directly perpetrating the abuses responsible for the most painful consequences of the economic collapse as Mozilo, whose massive mortgage giant encouraged sales reps to sell homeowners on the biggest and most abusive loans possible, fueling a meteoric rise in housing prices that sustained Countrywide's profit margins for much of the last decade -- until 2007, when the market finally broke down and Countrywide tried to change tactics, raising its lending standards with an internal memo encouraging employees to "Do the right thing."

That memo was instantly parodied by Countrywide employees, who posted and circulated an alternate version that ended: