Mozilo severance: $110 million and change

If he engineers a sale of battered Countrywide Financial to Bank of America, Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo stands to walk away with a severance package worth more than $110 million, the Los Angeles Times' Kathy Kristof reports tonight.

Such a payout would come on top of huge gains Mozilo has made selling Countrywide stock during the mortgage crisis. As the mortgage industry went into a nose dive in late 2006 and 2007, Mozilo cashed out about $140 million in stock options, becoming one of the highest-paid executives in the country, the L.A. Times reported in November.

The newspaper reports tonight that in his contract agreement, which extended the 69-year-old's employment contract through 2009, Mozilo was guaranteed three times his base salary, plus a cash payment equal to three times the greater of his average bonus or the incentive bonus paid the previous year. Net value: $87.8 million.

In addition, Mozilo has two pensions that his severance agreement gives him the right to receive as a lump sum upon his departure. Those pensions were worth $24 million as of December 2006, the last time the company was required to report their value.

There is more. The Times reports Mozilo would receive continuing health benefits for life for himself and his spouse, three years of life and financial planning benefits, and "tax-gross-up payments" to compensate him for any penalties he'd have to pay for receiving payments the IRS might consider excessive.

Given the slashing of 10,900 jobs at Countrywide this year, and the 81% decline in Countrywide stock over the last year, it is likely Mozilo's severage package will prove more controversial than his previous stock sales.

Your thoughts? Comments? Insights? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: Bloomberg

Comments

[joe shmoe]

and free sun tan lotion for the rest of his natural (natural???) life

Joe

[perks]

Geez, $110 mill? I gotta start learning how to run a major company into the ground...

[JamesW]

As a former employee I have no problem with this.

Mozilo was not a hired gun, he was a co-founder of the company and spent countless hours of his useful years making riches for himself, employees, and shareholders.

He deserves all the money he can get.

[Victor the Predictor]

How many CW employees are left? Much smaller pie to split up now if they distribute his billion dollar fortune. Boy is he going to get old fast if all he has to do is tend to his olive grove. I predict there will be lots of drooling in coming years. Adult diapers. Early dementia that will lead to him saying things like: "G5 pretty. Pretty toy plane," or "would you like some loans, little boy?"

[Big Fella]

Angelo Mozilo, the Ken Lay of 2008. The fat cats keep getting fatter and the rest of us pay for it, again and again and again.

[Mister Tee]

I would proudly support a $110 million diamond encrusted parachute for Godzilo.

Just as long as his "neither admit nor deny wrongdoing" fines exceed $200 million.

Fair is fair.

[lookoutdownbelow]

As a former employee, this company was and still is being run by a bunch of pompus asses.

This guy just seems to have been too lucky (especially if he pulls this off).

I left after a short while (I sued and won as well.)

I hope the upper brass go to jail or, better yet, down under.

[Big Fella]

JamesW:

While Angelo might have been the founder and spent countless hours developing the business, he failed in his fiduciary duties, and ultimately was a poor steward for his stockholders. He let greed filter his decisions.

He does not deserve to unjustly reward himself when he walks away. He and all of the other greedy "financial wizards" in this country are raping and pillaging our economy. Who do you think is going to have to pay the price to bail these failed financial enterprises out?

Do you remember the savings and loan crisis of the 1980's/1990's? Are you prepared as a taxpayer to bail out the banking industry as the dominoes fall?

http://FIGHTPTSD.ORG

[vultur]

Wall Street wheel of fortune goes round and round!

Sophisticated investors learned the following at an early age:

unless you're managing money for 3rd parties and generating fees to do it you are a complete fool to invest in public equities markets.

Angie Mo will probably have to escrow a few mil to cover all the shareholder derivative lawsuits and in the end I suspect the hundreds of million he pocked will have come at quite a steep price in the form of years off his life.

I might add,

if he founded the company then he should have negotiated his compensation as a founder through equity, not a salary that is perversely related to the companies performance under his tenure in 2007.

[bode]

Well, it looks like this blog won't have CFC to kick around as a scapegoat much longer. I'd like to point out that the comparisons to Enron are not well-founded: Enron was accounting fraud, pure and simple. The problems that are sinking CFC are the same that have cost a number of CEOs their jobs over the past few months: Charles Prince (Citigroup), James Cayne (Bear Stears), Stan O'Neal (Merril Lynch). CFC is just one player in the global mortgage industry, and the issues that CFC is facing are the same that cost those men their highly-paid jobs (just for comparison, O'Neal was said to receive about 165m in parting gifts). This isn't Enron, it's an entire industry gone awry, with the potential to take the entire economy with it. Mozilo might pay a few dollars in fines but he's not going to jail, nor is there even the suggestion that any CFC executive is going to jail. Companies get fined for predatory lending practices; no one ever goes to jail.

Yesterday someone opined that once BAC acquires CFC, "real bankers" will be running the show. I'd suggest that very few of the smartest minds on Wall Street have avoided this debacle, which is why I continue to feel that CFC has been unfairly maligned by the mainstream media. Maybe we should start an LA Land pool as to who the next scapegoat will be? My money is on WAMU and the boatload of option ARM mortgages quietly negatively amortizing in California as we speak. Regardless, I'm sure all the people who can't wait for the bubble to collapse also can't wait to pay more for insurance, more for car registration, and, realistically, more income tax. Oh, and receive fewer public services. That's what a recession means, and it's absolutely what we've got. Every time a CFC fails, it's making stability that much harder, and our state that much more in debt (sound familiar?).

Finally, because I know most of the people who read this blog were rooting for a CFC bankrupcy and an explosion in Calabassas, I want to quote tonight's WSJ article on the potential merger:

"More broadly, a failure of Countrywide would have posed a major risk to the U.S. economy, since the lender services about one of every six loans in the country. Bankruptcy likely would have shifted huge financial risk to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

CFC isn't very good at what they do anyway. Imagine what would happen if they threw their hands in the air and mailed the keys in?

[AJ]

How convenient.
Pump and dump.
Or dump and pump.
And now corporate B of A is now "saving the day"....
What fools are we to be sucked into this vortex of wallstreet mania....
The flush of a toilet of waste
Or the rush of a back up
Run...

[Hula Girl]

JamesW is Mozillo's pen name on Match.com

[Lisa]

Wow. I've got a torch. Anybody got a pitchfork?

[Ali A.]

I'm glad Countrywide is being sold to Bank Of America. I cant stand that company. I think the government should send him to Guantanamo to send a message to other CEOs. Don't mess with people's money and lives. This will make those fat cats more humble and respectfully of people.

[Cal]

OT: I noticed a spike in sales the last two weeks in a zip in Simi. I thought it was odd to see but then seeing what sold it all came clearer:

$937,000 on Clarkia St
$809,000 on Clarkia St
$720,000 on Clarkia St
$800,000 on Clarkia St
$874,000 on Clarkia St

5 homes in a new housing tract owned by Standard Pacific Homes (The Bluffs in Big Sky). How stupid does the guy paying $937 feel next to the guy paying $720.

$771,000 on Wetherby St
$900,000 on Wetherby St
$925,000 on Wetherby St
$1,170,000 on Wetherby St
$818,000 on Wetherby St
$840,000 on Wetherby St

6 homes by Richmond America the Brentwood tract in Simi.

Now the guys paying $900k can at least feel superior to the guy that paid 1.17 million. But everyone has got to be worried about the house closing at $771k. 400k difference.. not just in the same tract.... the same STREET!

New home builders appear to be motivated and they also appear to be experts separating the suckers from their money. If I was the guys sitting in the house at 771k.. I would still be feeling very nervous if there were more homes left to sell.

[Ace]

Sure he'll get a couple hundred million... but his house went down in value by 20 percent and his ARM is scheduled to reset in June.

[lurker]

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/greenberg/
2008/01/the-real-story-on-countrywide/

Updated: The Real Story on Countrywide….
4:54:56 PM January 10th, 2008 Permalink | Comments (69)

Updated to show Jon Najarian options insight.

We’ll know it soon enough, but with the leak that Bank of America is near acquiring Countrywide, several things would appear apparent (at least while we’re playing the guessing game):

1. The Fed is behind the deal.
2. The Fed is behind the deal because the rumors yesterday of a near bankruptcy were probably true.
3. As part of the deal, the government likely agrees to guarantee BofA against Countrywide-related losses.
4. Lost in the in the noise yesterday was that Moody’s downgraded the ratings on 30 (count ‘em — THIRTY!) tranches of Countrywide’s mortgage debt by more than a few notches. They did something similar before American Home Mortgage filed for bankruptcy.
5. Investors bid the stock higher assuming a premium when it’s likely that BofA still needs to fully assess the value of the assets before the deal’s full value will be known.
6. Big question, of course, is what Countrywide investors will get.
7. Rule of thumb with bankruptcies: Stocks often double on their way to zero.
8. BofA gets a free bank and a put to the government.

Menawhile, Jon Najarian of Optionsmonster.com writes, “To say there was HUGE unusual activity in Countrywide Financial ahead of today’s news that Bank America was close to finalizing a deal to buy the troubled mortgage giant would be as surprising as seeing Dennis Kucinich end his presidential run! We show over 304,000 calls traded against 248,000 puts, but the interesting thing here is that the bulk, some 76 percent of these calls were bought before the announcement! To us this means the likelihood of someone being tipped off was quite high. Like Burj Dubai Tower high!”

Onward.

[Cal]

NY Times is reporting its 4 billion in stock which would be 6.92 a share.

If you consider that BofA has 16% of the shares already, it is around 5.81 a share. BofA (by my estimation) should have received $48 million in payments on the $2 billion it fronted countrywide. After all the insiders are paid off I bet the final price for the regular shareholders is in the $5.50 neighborhood for which they will get BofA stock (currently trading around $40).

There is no buyout premium here.. if the numbers are true the stock is overvalued by 11% (counting BofA shares, or 25% countying the 16% discount). This is my completely amateur read based on anonymous "facts" provided by the NY times. If my read is correct the stock should drop tmw.

[Brian]

There has been a lot of criticism of the LA Times for ignoring the local Southern California market in pursuit of glory as a leading national paper competing with the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. Today's website seems to illustrate that. I opened up the New York Times webpage -- Countrywide is the top story. Wall Street Journal -- Countrywide. LA Times? Arnold's budget. Economy going south. Gang killings down. Edmund Hillary dead. Chinese bureaucrats training at Cal Poly. well, it must be the top California story. Whoops. Abusive husband story. City Hall. Surely it must be the top business stories. Nope. Condo plans for Boyle Heights. It appears only on this blog is this considered a big story.

[Victor the Predictor]

News Flash: Per cnbc, Bofa agrees to purchase CW for $48 Billion / $7.75 per share (unverified), to close in Q3.

Gretchen Morgenson of the NYT doesn't sleep

She's got her teeth on the neck of this story like a lion that's taken down a baby wildebeast. Some highlights from her article this morning:

"Directors for both companies have approved the deal, which is expected to be announced Friday, these people said. " (Would love to find out who these people are. We need deep-throats to give us more behind the scnes info)

"the people briefed on the deal said that negotiations had been going on for about a month."

"...just last March, as the subprime crisis was starting to unfold, Mr. Mozilo crowed that Countrywide would benefit from the spreading mess. “This will be great for Countrywide,” he told an interviewer, “because at the end of the day, all of the irrational competitors will be gone."

[Victor the Predictor]

Correction: WSJ has purchase price at $4 Billion.

[Anonymous Coward]

Kind of repugnant that thousands of people's jobs, homes, livelihoods could depend on how many millions one guy rakes in. Good to know the captain has a private rowboat ready while the rest of the ship sinks.

[Uncle Billy]

Charles Gasparino, the on-air editor at cnbc is exploding with news this morning... as are many others... JP Morgan to purchase Britain's Northern Rock's mortgage portfolio. JP Morgan in preliminary talks to buy Wamu??? Merill Lynch to take $15B writedown? Looking for cash infusion from those foreign sovereign funds again (asia, middle east). The elephants are stampeding. Heard some predictions this morning that Mozillo will take a "vice chairman type role" at BofA, and then head off into the sunset to maintain his tan." It's hard to maintain tans while the sun sets. Maybe that was their point.

[Michael Snyder]

Good work if you can get it!
Actually Mozillo belongs in prison for his shenanigans last year. To give him such a buy out is nothing shy of insulting to the thousands of stockholders who've seen their 401ks evaporate and the thousands of former CFC employees now unemployed.
Bloomberg's reporting Meryl is taking another $15 billion write-down on "subprime" today. The real subprime instruments are the vastly over-leveraged CDOs that these "financial geniuses" were selling each other.
Kind of reminds me of the Talk Show Hosts all making the rounds of each other's shows.
bode,
With the exception of a few uneducated trolls I really don't see anyone cheering for a collapse of the real estate market. The "Orange Man" makes a wonderful high profile target, but he has plenty of company in Ameriquest, WAMU etc.
We're all on this rock together and most of us realize the implications of that. I for one would love to see some health restored to the market, but that will require a level of transparency we're not likely to see for some time.

[Ollie]

I find it interesting to see the interplay between the defenders of Countrywide (few, some earlier posts in the summer obviously from PR flacks) and those who wish to be orange man drawn and quartered (legion) . Not being from California, never an investor or customer of the company, I don't have an emotional reaction either way. But to respond to bode, I think many of the posters on these boards react to the hypocrisy of the company, and especially its CEO.

He accepts humanitarian awards for increasing homeownership rates among minority borrowers, and then later blames Congress for forcing him into making imprudent loans to people who can't pay them back.

He gives interviews where he publicly touts the company's prospects while the housing market is imploding, and quietly adjusts his share sales program (twice) to dump more stock quicker.

He blames competitors recklessness for inventing creative financing programs, but it's pretty hard to do when you're the largest lender (by far) in the market.

And now, we find out the details of his golden parachute. While investors in the company's stock have lost 88% of their value this year, he will walk away with a $110 million buyout. Meanwhile, estimates are anywhere from one third to one half of the employees of the company will likely be gone.

[Uncle Billy]

Biggest news day since Katrina, and Erin Burnett of cnbc's "squawk on the street" is nowhere to be found. I wonder if they dispatched her to the Countrywide HQ in Calabasas like that other poor cnbc reporter that they had reporting from there, in the dark at about 5:00 in the morning.

[John]

Now that jumbo loans have ceased to exist in California for most, the maximum price for houses outside of Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, and San Marino is $417k plus the down payment contribution, or roughly $500k. Prices will continue to fall until that benchmark is met in Simi Valley, Alhambra, and Torrance. Every other comment is stuff and nonsense.

Who cares about Mozillo? He worked the system in the short term, and the long term eventually caught up like is always does. No doubt he'll have to refund 90% of his ill gotten gains through the SEC at some point, and eventually become an obscure footnote in economic textbooks years from now under "Land Speculators".

[Theorist]

Just a thought -- remember when Dubya was out of touch with events as Katrina was unfolding? Now he's pokin' around the middle east, trying a hail mary peace initiative for his "legacy" while the ground is undulating under our feet here in the U.S. Leadership, ya gotta love it. Haven't heard much for our economics czar Paulson lately either. No wonder the Iranians have the chutzpah to buzz around our warships with tiny boats.

[Theorist]

So....... wonder what's going to happen with all the folks that are trying to "work out" their loans with Countrywide. If the lenders are going to be caught up with the transition to BofA, can't imagine they're going to be that focused on the individual or wholesale stopgap measures to forestall foreclosures. Ay Dios Mio. And now Ahnold's budget calls for nearly $5 billion reduction in spending on education? We thought we had a perfect storm brewing last year? Look, ma... look at us now.

[jaded]

My predictions:

Countrywide is going be to an albatross for BofA, as the whole story of their improprieties and bad business decisions have not yet come to light.

This merger will be as successful as Time Warner and AOL.

BofA will lose so much money that the CEO will eventually be forced out. But he'll be sure to take his $300 million severance with him.

[TakeFive]

Maybe this move by BofA makes sense. If CFC went BK, BofA might have to get in line with the rest of the creditors. So BofA throws in a few billion more and gets the whole company.

In spite of the subprime mess and falling equity, I have no doubt that
CFC has many solid loans. Stock price set by panic selling may not be a good indicator of CFC's intrisic value.

[bode]

First of all, the buyout isn't an insult to people with CFC in their 401(k)s: it's a godsend. Given the relentless downward pressure from everyone (NYT, marketplace, etc) CFC really might not have made it. Like I said many times before, that would not have been a good thing for the economy, let alone your 401(k) (schadenfreude aside, of course). Now, everyone with CFC has BAC in their retirement account, and can stop sweating.

Next, to all those people who mentioned Enron (and the Dynergy buyout): notice that the company did not go bankrupt, and instead was purchased for real money. Fed conspiracies aside, I don't know what more evidence you need that the business was not an Enron (Enron was criminal fraud, CFC was reckless, and they aren't the same).

Finally, for the couple people who are still reading this: if you own a lot of a single stock in your 401(k), PLEASE diversify. It isn't ever a good idea to own a lot of a single stock, no matter what. The criminal thing is that our legislators have not mandated everyone with a 401(k) watch a video of Enron exploding, followed by a giant flashing "DIVERSIFY" logo. So, that's a straw-man argument. I'm sure the Bear Stearns director who sold for a near 50% loss in December feels pretty stupid too.

[mike]

this guy made tons of money on other peoples losses. isn't that what capatilism is all about? from reading this commentary i would think these people prefer that the governement regulate how much money people make. but what did they say in the 50's and 60's? better dead than red!

[robert]

Mozilo is a disrace to mankind.He should be in jail.How does the upper middle class expect the great unwashed to accept this?This man and others like him steal, YES I SAID STEAL ,from all of us yet we fill our jails with the underpriveliged for pot.One day the bottom will drop out of society just as it dropped out of the housing market and the poor will be at our doors to cut our throats.We will deserve it for not dealing with sociopaths like Mozilo.James W-you are a liar or an idiot,maybe both.

[Theorist]

One thing I haven't heard mentioned, is that the whole BofA - CW deal might not ever happen. Just because the boards agreed on terms, they're not expecting to close this thing for many many months. A lot can happen in that time. Maybe it is a rescue, but could be that it's a temporary fix until a JP Morgan or other entity (offshore?) comes in and does the real "rescue," at which point BofA could get their money back in spades, and Lewis won't look like a speculator at all.

[RichB]

The truly disgusting part of this whole story is that Countrywide would be bankrupt if it weren't for the billions of taxpayer dollars flowing to them through the Federal Home Loan Banks -- at least $50 billion as of September last year according to the Financial Times. Mozilo's pay-day is coming straight out of taxpayers wallets.

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

What gets me is that after the $100 million payout, on top of the few hundreds of millions of dollars he fleeced from CFC earlier, he wants three years of free life and financial planning benefits.

Now, that's just cheap!!!

[anonymous]

It's a shame if Mozillo disappears from the spotlight. He was the king of unintentional comedy. Such greatness hasn't been seen since the former Iraqi Information Minister, and will likely not be topped soon.

One of his better quotes said something to the effect that Countrywide was forced by borrowers to create new products (such as option ARMS).

When was the last time a borrower forced a lender to do anything?

[mattress man]

Angelo Mozilo gives new meaning to his "Bronx Butcher" roots...

..."Hey, Marty. Whatta ya wanna do? I don't know Angie.
Whatta you wanna do?"...

[Uncle Billy]

As long as we're all laughing into our beer (or kool-aid):

I don't think any of this will make any difference to Angelo at all; he has really THICK skin. Literally. I've never seen this phrase so fully fleshed out in real life.

[allfury]

hey ok people calm down if you believe in heaven and hell, then look at that picture [1st thing is how could anyone hire that face at the one to represent their franchise?] but seriously ...

Does that not look like the face of the devil's henchman?

He's got a great retirement spot all set and it's very warm!

Never fear people what goes around, really goes around!

allfury.

[Michael Krupnick]

Lies, lies, lies --- on every day, in every way, the American middle class has been sold out to the highest bidder since before the turn of the century. We are now at the cusp of a fundamental loss of confidence that threatens everything that made America great. And we are participants in this class assignation, burying our heads in the sand while our legs and livelihoods are systematically pulled out from under us. There is no exception: our moral bankruptcy preceded this predictable collision with the brick wall of greed. The institutions we've grown to rely on have rotted because of our own lack of courage and responsibility in defending and maintaining them. We're getting what we deserve.

[xime]

that's a hugeeee mount of moneyyy
http://www.spymac.com/details/?2331359

[LoanOfficer]

Having worked for Countrywide in the past, I can say that they have a very strange business model, in my opinion. Tons of branches that open and close with the expansion/contractiion of the market. People got hired/fired quicker than you could count the number of branches.

This sale is embarrassing for the board and senior executives at CFC. A year ago, the company was worth $25 billion plus on paper.

The thing that gets me, however, is how vicious people are being about Mozilo. The guy isn't a crook; he's a businessman who exploited a niche in the market like any other good business would. He wasn't a monolith and didn't do anything that wasn't done by hundreds of CEOs in the industry. Given that a huge amount of CFC's business was wholesale, brokers also share a large share of the blame. The retail operation was pretty culpable, I must admit, but in the end, it all comes down to personal responsibility. A home purchase is likely the most complicated and important financial transaction a person makes in his/her life. That they wouldn't take the time to learn the pros and cons of the mortgage product they are choosing BEFORE THEY SIGN ON THE LINE THAT IS DOTTED. For them simply to trust the lender/broker is naive at best, wildly irresponsible at worst. Thousands of people will lose their homes because they were stupid and didn't read their documents, or because they gambled without having enough knowledge of the market in which they were speculating.

I wonder how many of the Angelo-bashers are renters.

[Erioke]

He built this company. He's not just a manager... doesn't seem that unreasonable. Instead of blaming him, blame all the moronic home buyers who either thought they'd get rich quick or signed on for a loan that they didn't understand.

Its a lot less popular to blame Joe Public... but he's the real reason for this mess.

Are we going to blame the CEOs of credit card companies when card users spend more than they can pay back?

[business]

There's a problem when a CEO walks away with that kind of money - when thousand and thousands of people loose their jobs and billions of dollars lost in stocks.

[Connecticut Man1]

This turd is getting a $110 million dollars and we are losing our Countrywide mortgaged house. I wonder how many houses could have been saved with that money?

America: The land of opportunity if you are a CEO already...

[Dean Beith]

Why isn't suit being filed against Mozilo? He needs to be jailed, I mean Martha Stewart didn't do anything like Mozilo. Oh well he will die sooner than later and won't be able to take the money with him. Everyone can spit on his grave! Enjoy my retirement money Mozilo.

People complaining here will do little good, actions must be taken against CFC as well as it's CEO.

[Uncle Billy]

Ok... it's hard to focus anger elsewhere.... but...

What about David Sambol, the COO? Maybe he was the real brains behind the operation in recent years. Plus, he's a local boy, having attended Cal State Northridge. No scorn for him?

Or how bout the little irish fellow in charge of global operations?

[Ugly American]

He should go to jail right next to the clerk who stole $20 out of the cash register at 7-11.

[Grandma/Home Investor]

Comment to L/O's of Countrywide - You go get real jobs - like scooping hog manure for a living. The comment of people being naive' and stupid sends me out-of-my-mind with fury towards you pencil paper pushing scum bags who knew exactly what you were doing to people and loving every minute of it while you cashed your paychecks. I'll see you at the dinner table in Heaven and we'll have a nice chat about it. ALLRIGHTY?? Don't make excuses for why you did what you did for a measly buck or two!!! They need to take this CEO and do an old fashioned Wild West judgement. How much money does one need for LIFE?? And sending everyone else to the poor house is not GOOD BUSINESS!! UNDERSTAND??? WHEN YOU DIE< I"LL be there to greet you and help you meet MY BOSS!!!

[Tom MacGregor]

I concur completely with Grandma talking about those dirtbag loan officers. How absolutely shameful to place total blame on homebuyers. I agree, they are partially culpable however YOU dirtbags including Mozilo sold your souls KNOWING these deals were bad and they'd end up in "somebody else's lap." It really makes me lose my faith in mankind when I see this behavior. No conscience and heading straight to hell where they belong.

[BOB G]

WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO THE BOND HOLDERS!!!!

HOW MANY WERE PENSION FUNDS???

[Mary]

Just sent Mr. Mozilo an email today about how his company ignores its borrowers. We have been good customers over the past couple of years. We had a job loss and advised Countrywide of our situation. They told us about their loan modification program and we've been waiting for 6 months while they try and figure out what their doing. Now they are going to sell our house out from under us!!! Surprise!!! Mr. Mozilo get $110 million severance and his company can't get a simple modification done for a customer that has been working with them for a year? How sad, Mr. Mozilo.