Angelo Mozilo. Photo / Reuters.
Angelo Mozilo, whose chairmanship of the ailing mortgage lender Countrywide Financial has made him the face of the United States foreclosure crisis, has agreed to forfeit a US$37.5 million ($48.3 million) severance package that had sparked political fury in a number of differing quarters.
The 69-year-old, who founded
Countrywide in 1969, is due to be hauled before a congressional committee next week to defend his pay, his perks and a string of share sales that netted him millions of dollars in the run-up to the company's fall from grace.
The severance package would have been triggered by Countrywide's sale to Bank of America.
The deal is under negotiation at the moment and would avert the collapse of a company that was the most prolific lender of the long sub-prime mortgage boom that finally turned to bust last year.
Mozilo will give up a cash bonus, advisory fees and a perks deal that entitles him to the continued use of the corporate jet and a country club membership for another seven years.
He will, however, retain a pension fund that totalled US$24 million at the end of 2006, as well as deferred pay of a similar amount.
Before his announcement, enraged unions had calculated he could walk away with up to US$115 million, although Countrywide insisted that was an overestimate.
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called the severance package "outrageous" and other Democrats suggested Mozilo make a multi-million-dollar donation to an organisation helping borrowers who have been forced from their homes.
"My primary focus today, as it has been for the past 40 years, is to do what is in the best interests of Countrywide's employees, customers and shareholders," Mozilo said.
Bank of America has made an offer of US$4 billion to take over Countrywide, which has been struggling to stay afloat since the credit crisis began and effectively shut off its traditional sources of funding.
Financial results due out yesterday could make or break the deal, although Bank of America had said it had already carried out "the mother of all due diligences" on Countrywide's financial state.
Mozilo is slated to appear before a hearing of the House of Representatives oversight committee next Thursday alongside Wall Street executives who have also been criticised for taking outsize pay packages while the credit crisis built up.
- Independent
