Countrywide CEO Cashed Out ... $138 million in stock options over the last year ... as the mortgage company went into a tailspin

Report: Countrywide CEO Cashed Out | LA Times: Angelo Mozilo Cashed In $138 Million In Options Before Crash | LOS ANGELES, Sept. 29, 2007

(AP) Countrywide Financial Corp. Chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo cashed in $138 million in stock options over the last year, switching his trading plans as the mortgage company went into a tailspin, it was reported Saturday.
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Hundreds of executives use similar trading plans, approved by federal regulators in 2000 as a way to defend against insider trading allegations. While not illegal, it is highly unusual for the plans to be changed so often in a short period, experts said.

"If a guy is changing his plan around, I would think that would send up a red flag. I wouldn't allow my clients to do it," said Thom F. Carroll, a financial planner with the Baltimore wealth management firm Carroll, Frank & Plotkin.

Mozilo adopted a new trading plan, added a second one and then revised it while the housing and mortgage industry slumped, the Times reported, citing regulatory findings.

The changes allowed him to sell hundreds of thousands of additional shares before Countrywide stock plunged. ...
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Calabasas-based Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender in terms of volume, faces a lawsuit claiming it failed to warn employees about the depth of its financial troubles, resulting in heavy stock losses in their 401k retirement accounts. ...