I posted an article today on the Countrywide CEO that was charged with stealing $141.7 million and only having to pay back $22.5 of it! What a sick joke that is! It is also made more terrible when you see that the Ameriquest MDL Settlement group of 170,000 are mostly getting around $50 a piece when they were told it would be $1,000 for each defendent on websites!
Here is the link to my post on Countrywide fiasco:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9341362The former Countrywide Financial Corp. chief agreed Friday to a settlement that requires him to pay 16 cents out of his own pocket for every dollar federal authorities claimed he had taken out of the company in ill-gotten personal gains.
The math works like this:
■The government alleged that he added $141.7 million to his personal fortune through fraud and insider trading.
■Mozillo agreed to personally pay a $22.5 million fine – 16 percent of the alleged ill-gotten gains.
■In addition, Mozillo agreed to turn over another $45 million to former Countrywide shareholders, who lost billions when the company’s stock price plummeted as loan defaults soared. But the $45 million won’t come out of Mozilo’s pocket. Under the terms of his employment contract, it will be paid instead by Countrywide’s insurers and by Bank of America, which bought Countrywide in 2008.
The government settled for less than it wanted because, one legal analyst said, because it would have been a challenge to prove its case.
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I was one of the people who was in the Ameriquest Settlement and have been following a blog on it and most of the people only got around $50 each for their troubles! The Lawyers got millions! And there you go again - the Rich get Richer and the poor, well throw them some crumbs and let them eat Little Debbie Cakes!