Countrywide Financial Corp

Countrywide Financial Corp., whose shares have more than doubled in the last year, said Tuesday that it would split its stock 3-for-2 in April. It would be the second time in the last six months that Countrywide split its shares. In December, the Calabasas-based mortgage lender gave investors an additional share for every three owned. Countrywide rose 54 cents to $93.12 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

In a setback for federal regulators, a federal judge threw out many of the fraud allegations against former IndyMac Bancorp Chief Executive Michael W. Perry in a case stemming from the collapse of the onetime Pasadena mortgage lender. U.S. District Judge Manuel Real tossed five of seven public filings late Monday that had supported civil claims filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also ruled that Perry could not be forced to repay allegedly ill-gotten gains. Perry's lead attorney, Jean Veta of Covington & Burling in Washington, said the SEC suit "should never have been filed" and that she would contest the remaining accusations at a non-jury trial scheduled for June 26 before Real.

Consumer groups in four states are asking congressional banking committees to conduct hearings on Bank of America Corp.'s proposed $4.1-billion buyout of struggling mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. The groups want lawmakers to investigate the possible effect of the buyout on Countrywide borrowers and employees. The groups are from California, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina. Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America agreed to acquire Calabasas-based Countrywide last month in an all-stock deal.

Four current members of the House of Representatives received special VIP loans from Countrywide Financial Corp., according to the chairman of a congressional committee, raising new questions about the extent of the company's attempts to win favor with Washington policymakers as it built its subprime mortgage business. The disclosure came in a letter last week from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, informing leaders of the House Ethics Committee about "possible wrongdoing" by lawmakers.

Mortgage lender Countrywide Credit Industries Inc. has changed its name to Countrywide Financial Corp. to reflect its expansion into banking, insurance and other financial businesses. The Calabasas-based company, whose shares are traded on the NYSE, also will officially change the trading symbol of its stock to CFC from CCR on Wednesday.

Countrywide Financial Corp. said second-quarter profit nearly doubled on increased mortgage lending, but results missed analysts' estimates. The Calabasas mortgage giant raised its full-year outlook and increased its quarterly dividend by 33%. The company said second-quarter net income rose to $700 million, or $2.24 a share, compared with $383 million, or $1.37, a year earlier. The year-earlier results were adjusted for two stock splits.

Bank of America Corp. has agreed to pay $55 million to settle claims of former employees of Countrywide Financial Corp. who contended that the Calabasas home lender breached its obligation to manage their retirement funds prudently. Plaintiff attorneys said in a federal court filing Friday that the proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit "represents an excellent recovery" for the former employees. Before legal fees, it would provide about $1,000 for each of the 55,000 employees Countrywide had at its peak.

Bank of America Corp. has lost a bid to dismiss most of a combined lawsuit accusing its Countrywide unit of steering borrowers into subprime and other high-risk mortgages during the housing boom. In a May 18 ruling, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego said borrowers represented in several lawsuits could pursue claims that Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial Corp. engaged in racketeering and unfair business practices before it was acquired by Charlotte, N.C.-based BofA.

Four top Countrywide Financial Corp. executives will receive retention payments totaling $7.4 million if they remain with the beleaguered lender through March 15, Countrywide said in a regulatory filing Thursday. But this is one payday that Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo will miss. He was not among the named executives eligible for a retention payment. President David Sambol would receive $1.9 million and Chief Financial Officer Eric Sieracki would get $1.5 million. Also, Ranjit Kripalani, managing director of the company's capital markets division, would receive $2.5 million, and Carlos Garcia, chief of Countrywide's banking operations, would get $1.45 million, according to the filing.

Federal watchdogs have asked courts to sanction Countrywide Financial Corp. for "sustained bad faith" in allegedly levying unjustified fees on consumers in bankruptcy and failing to return overpayments. "Countrywide's failure to ensure the accuracy of its claims and pleadings has resulted in an abuse of the bankruptcy process," U.S. Trustee Donald F. Walton asserted in a lawsuit filed in Atlanta.

A federal watchdog agency said Bank of America Corp. should reimburse the government for losses on certain mortgages issued by Countrywide Financial Corp., the high-risk home lender that BofA acquired in 2008. The inspector general's office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development audited 14 loans granted by Countrywide and determined that half of them contained "material underwriting deficiencies. " The Federal Housing Administration, which is a unit of HUD, provides insurance to lenders against mortgage losses.

The subprime litigation nightmare that Bank of America Corp. inherited with its acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp. was compounded Thursday when 16 investors — including the giant California Public Employees' Retirement System — brought a new lawsuit alleging that Countrywide misled them about the risks it was taking. The suit filed in federal court in Los Angeles is a setback for Bank of America, which has sought to put the subprime morass behind it by striking settlements with a range of securities holders.

When Bank of America Corp. acquired mortgage giant Countrywide Financial Corp. three years ago this week, cementing BofA's position as a consumer banking leader, the purchase price was a measly $2.5 billion in stock. But the real cost could easily be 10 to 15 times that amount after the home lender incurred huge losses under BofA's ownership and the bank agreed to pay billions of dollars to settle litigation over bad loans made by Countrywide during the housing boom. On Wednesday alone, the bank added $20.4 billion in expected costs to the tally.

Major investors opting out of a $624-million class-action settlement with Countrywide Financial Corp. said they would have recouped less than 5% of their losses on the mortgage lender's stock had they accepted the agreement. "A settlement on behalf of my clients would have to be a material multiple of that amount," said Blair Nicholas of San Diego, a lawyer for the California Public Employees' Retirement System and 15 other institutional investors. Altogether, 33 institutional investors have opted out. The agreement was approved Friday by U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer in Los Angeles, who described the settlement as reasonable and substantial given the complexities of the case and the uncertainties of what a jury might decide.

More than three years after Bank of America Corp. agreed to acquire Countrywide Financial Corp., the legal mess the bank inherited from the mortgage giant seems only to grow. It was no secret that the bank took on a heaping plate of litigation with the Calabasas-based lender, which during the housing boom had matched every risky loan its rivals devised. But adversaries who appeared to have settled Countrywide-related claims are returning to besiege BofA again, while new demands are surfacing in courts across the country.

Federal prosecutors have shelved a criminal investigation of Angelo R. Mozilo after determining that his actions in the mortgage meltdown ? which led to $67.5-million settlement against him ? did not amount to criminal wrongdoing. As the former chairman of Countrywide Financial Corp., Mozilo helped fuel the boom in risky subprime loans that led to the crippling of the banking industry and the near-collapse of the financial system. A federal grand jury in Los Angeles began probing Mozilo in 2008, and four months ago he agreed to pay a $22.5-million fine and to repay $45 million in what the government said were ill-gotten gains to former Countrywide shareholders.

As foreclosures surge, lenders might be forced to acknowledge that far more of the mortgages they sold to investors were never written properly in the first place. That's one analyst's conclusion from the latest earnings disaster at Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's biggest mortgage lender. Taking more than $3 billion in charges for write-downs and bad loans, Countrywide swung to a first-quarter loss of $893 million on Tuesday, more than even the most pessimistic analysts had projected.

With the refinance boom a fading memory, Countrywide Financial Corp. said Wednesday that third-quarter profit fell 47%, a nosedive that knocked its stock for a loop and dragged down shares of other home-loan specialists. A downturn was expected -- refis peaked in the third quarter of 2003 as interest rates hit bottom -- but the Calabasas company widely missed analysts' earnings estimates and lowered its guidance for the rest of 2004.

Here is a chronology of events involving Angelo Mozilo and Countrywide Financial Corp.: 1969: Mozilo and David Loeb found Countrywide Credit Industries, which later becomes Countrywide Financial. 1992: Countrywide becomes the nation's largest mortgage lender. 2005: Countrywide earns its largest profit to date, $2.5 billion. Mozilo takes home $160 million in pay and stock-option profit. September 2007: Amid a crash in the subprime market, Countrywide says it will cut nearly 20% of its workforce.