Former Countrywide chief Angelo Mozilo agreed to a settlement of $67.5 million to resolve charges that he duped the home loan company's investors while reaping a personal windfall, but Bank of America will pick up two-thirds of the bill.
Mozilo, poster boy of the subprime mortgage market's boom and bust, reached a last-minute deal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission before his trial on civil fraud charges was to start on Tuesday.
The most prominent executive charged by U.S. regulators with wrongdoing in connection with the housing market collapse, Mozillo settled without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.
Bank of America, which bought Countrywide in 2008, said it will advance $45 million to Mozilo for the settlement. It said it is required by indemnification provisions to advance funds to Mozilo and another defendant, former Countrywide President David Sambol.
The settlements, announced in Los Angeles federal court, resolve SEC charges that Mozilo, Sambol and another defendant hid risks of the company's teetering mortgage portfolio as the real estate market soured.
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