When David Gautreaux volunteered to assist at a charity golf tournament in Thousand Oaks two years ago, he was eager to meet the event's host, Angelo R. Mozilo, then chief executive of mortgage giant Countrywide Financial Corp.
An actor and investor who owned Countrywide stock, Gautreaux was stationed at the 12th hole when Mozilo strode onto the green. Gautreaux remarked that Mozilo was winning.
"He turned at me, and his voice was like a bark. He said, 'We better be!' " recalled Gautreaux, who was taken aback. "A charity pro-am is the last place you'd feel compelled to do that -- especially as the host. The host should be the person who wants everybody else to have a great time."
Brash and ultra-competitive, the 70-year-old Mozilo has chafed more than a few people with his drive for dominance since he co-founded Countrywide in 1969. Now, more than a year after the company's near-collapse and humbling takeover by Bank of America Corp., the Bronx native is preparing to defend himself against a civil suit by federal regulators alleging fraud and insider trading.
From a broader perspective, Mozilo is also awaiting the verdict of history: Was he the No. 1 culprit of the financial crisis, as some (including Time magazine) have suggested? Or was he merely an aggressive executive who made mistakes while trying to keep his "baby," as he called Countrywide, atop the heap?
"Mozilo's fingerprints are all over the economic catastrophe we are living. He was the Typhoid Mary of the mortgage business, spreading the exotic-loan disease far and wide," said Dan Pedrotty, director of the AFL-CIO's office of investments. "He was also grossly overpaid, especially considering the fact that he drove his company off a cliff."
Others are more charitable, saying Mozilo's conduct was no worse than that of the industry as a whole.
"By mortgage industry standards, Angelo was a straight shooter," said Guy Cecala, editor of trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance. "Did the company get so large that he couldn't have hands-on oversight of everything, and things got out of control? I think that's what happened."
Regulators have weighed in, and not favorably. Lawsuits in several states, including California, contend Mozilo allowed Countrywide to lure borrowers into unaffordable adjustable-rate loans.
