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The legal battle could provide a rare window into the collapse of the financial and real estate markets.Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles -- A legal battle between units of Countrywide Financial Corp. and American International Group Inc. could provide a rare window into the collapse of the financial and real estate markets. In a lawsuit filed this week, Countrywide Home Loans Inc. complained that the insurer didn't cover more than $43 million in losses from failed real estate loans, many of which were bundled and sold as securities -- even though Countrywide paid more than $342 million in premiums...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A unit of embattled insurer American International Group Inc. filed suit against mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. in California federal court Thursday, alleging Countrywide misrepresented the health of loans that the company insured, resulting in massive losses. United Guaranty Mortgage Indemnity Co. filed suit in U.S. District Court, accusing Countrywide of breach of contract, fraud, negligence, and unfair competition and business practices. United Guaranty alleges Countrywide "abandoned its own underwriting guidelines to boost its market share and then misrepresented the quality of its loans so that United Guaranty would provide insurance coverage for them." The AIG...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a capital always looking for someone to blame, a powerful U.S. Democratic senator has a big bull's-eye on him in the firefight over taxpayer-funded bonuses for executives at insurance giant AIG. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and one of the more prominent faces of the Democratic Party, is scrambling to explain how a loophole ended up in legislation that allowed the roundly condemned bonuses to go forward. At issue is a clause in the $787 billion economic stimulus plan approved by Congress in February that capped bonuses for executives at companies getting federal...

Washington -- Executives at Countrywide Financial Corp., one of the biggest names of the housing boom, routinely violated internal company policies to provide below-market rates on home loans to the politically connected and powerful, according to a congressional report to be released today. Loan documents show how far Calabasas-based Countrywide went to give loans to VIPs through a special program known as "Friends of Angelo," named after former Chief Executive Angelo R. Mozilo, according to congressional investigators. ... Recipients of special loans included Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), former U.N. Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke, former Fannie...

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) looks like he may be facing a fresh political firestorm. Dodd just admitted on CNN that he inserted a loophole in the stimulus legislation that allowed million-dollar bonuses to insurance giant AIG to go forward – after previously denying any involvement in writing the controversial provision. . “We wrote the language in the bill, the deal with bonuses, golden parachutes, excessive executive compensation that was adopted unanimously by the United States Senate in the stimulus bill,” Dodd told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer this afternoon. “But for that language, there would have been no language to deal with...

Has Chris Dodd ever heard of the Bill of Attainder? Evidently not. Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn) wants to tax AIG employees on their exhorbitant bonus payments.

Congressional lawmakers are scrambling to think up creative ways to recover at least some of the $165 million in bonuses that bailed-out American International Group is paying executives -- but they could be their own worst enemy. Though Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is among those leading the charge on retrieving the bonuses, an amendment he added to the $787 billion stimulus bill last month created a roadblock to getting that money back. The amendment, meant to restrict executive pay for bailed-out banks, also included an exception for "contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009." This would seem to...

While the Senate constructed the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd unexpectedly added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009,” which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are seeking to tax. The amendment is in the final version and is law.

The Senate Ethics Committee has been looking into possible conflicts of interest in Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd's 2003 mortgages. Now questions about another Dodd real-estate adventure, this one in Ireland, should keep the Ethicists even busier. All the more because Mr. Dodd's "cottage" purchase involves a crooked stock trader for whom the Senator once did a very big political favor. Mr. Dodd is already under a cloud for receiving what a former loan officer claims was preferential treatment from Countrywide Financial on two mortgage refinancings -- in Connecticut and Washington -- in 2003. Countrywide was an aggressive lender to shaky...

Join us for an appearance by Senator Chris Dodd and Representative Joe Courtney for Health Care Forum. Find out about the health care plan. A great opportunity to show Dodd and Courtney how you feel about their performance in Washington.

Franklin D. Raines, the former chief executive of Fannie Mae, used a special program at mortgage lender Countrywide Financial to receive a below-market rate on a home loan, contrary to sworn testimony he made to Congress in December, according to the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government. Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) released documents yesterday that he said show Raines received discounts and waivers of fees on a June 2003 home loan through the "Friends of Angelo" program, named after Countrywide's then-chief executive, Angelo R. Mozilo.

Fairly or not, Countrywide Financial and its top executives would be on most lists of those who share blame for the nation’s economic crisis. After all, the banking behemoth made risky loans to tens of thousands of Americans, helping set off a chain of events that has the economy staggering. So it may come as a surprise that a dozen former top Countrywide executives now stand to make millions from the home mortgage mess. Stanford L. Kurland, Countrywide’s former president, and his team have been buying up delinquent home mortgages that the government took over from other failed banks, sometimes...

CALABASAS, Calif. — Fairly or not, Countrywide Financial and its top executives would be on most lists of those who share blame for the nation’s economic crisis. After all, the banking behemoth made risky loans to tens of thousands of Americans, helping set off a chain of events that has the economy staggering. So it may come as a surprise that a dozen former top Countrywide executives now stand to make millions from the home mortgage mess. Stanford L. Kurland, Countrywide’s former president, and his team have been buying up delinquent home mortgages that the government took over from other...

CALABASAS, Calif. Whether they deserve to be or not, Countrywide Financial and its top executives would be on most lists of those who share blame for the nation’s economic crisis. After all, the banking behemoth made risky loans to tens of thousands of Americans, helping set off a chain of events that has the economy staggering. So it may come as a surprise that a dozen top Countrywide executives now stand to make millions from the home mortgage mess. Stanford L. Kurland, Countrywide’s former president, and his team of former company executives have been buying up delinquent home mortgages that...

Looks like those sweetheart mortgages Chris Dodd snagged from Countrywide as a “Friend of Angelo,” its CEO, aren’t the only sugar-coated real estate deals from which the senior Connecticut senator has benefitted. The intrepid Kevin Rennie of the Hartford Courant, who has been dogging Dodd’s Countrywide dealings, has now turned up an Irish real estate deal sweeter than Bailey’ Cream–but with the whiff of a week-old flounder. I’d encourage folks to read Rennie’s entire story in the Courant. Here’s the Cliff Notes version: * Dodd is great friends with New York high-roller Edward R. Downe, Jr. * Downe gets convicted...

Ireland does not easily give up its secrets. That may have been one attraction it held for Sen. Christopher Dodd in 1994 when he became an owner of a refuge on nearly 10 acres on the Irish west coast. The murky tale includes a felonious inside trader, a Kansas City businessman, a presidential pardon and what appears to be a financial bonanza to Dodd during the Irish property boom. The saga of Dodd's lucrative Irish odyssey reveals that his two 2003 sweetheart loans from subprime mortgage titan Countrywide Financial were not the first time he enjoyed a financial advantage from...

While the Obama administration battles to keep people from losing their homes, one Florida lawyer said she has a better answer to the toxic mortgage epidemic sweeping the country - fight back against the loan servicers and banks that are improperly pressing the foreclosure actions. "The loan servicers bringing most of the foreclosure actions in the country don't own the mortgages and have no standing to take away a person's home," said the lawyer, April Charney, who has stopped scores of foreclosure actions in Jacksonville, Fla., where she works as a Legal Aid lawyer. In essence, Charney has forced scores...

A Reluctant Challenger To Chris Dodd?By DANIELA ALTIMARI | The Hartford Courant February 21, 2009 Anthony Astolfi is a 24-year-old Republican from San Diego; Peter Schiff is a broker and financial pundit who lives in Fairfield County. Astolfi believes that together they can topple U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd. Astolfi is part of a loose group of libertarians scattered across the nation who embrace Schiff's message of free markets and small government. They believe that Schiff can beat the Democratic incumbent in 2010 and have launched an Internet-based effort to draft him. "Peter Schiff was on YouTube constantly, predicting the...

U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd said Thursday he will return contributions received from financier R. Allen Stanford who is accused by federal regulators of defrauding investors of $8 billion. "Whatever it is, all of it will be donated to charity," Dodd said ... "Unfortunately, I'm not clairvoyant," said Dodd, a Democrat facing re-election next year. "In some cases, I've received money and support from people who turn out to be people you wouldn't want to be associated with." Dodd was unsure whether he had ever met Stanford or exactly how much money he had received from the financier, either directly...

Mortgage deal may hurt Dodd in 2010By JOSH KRAUSHAAR | 2/17/09 4:38 AM EST Is Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) really in trouble? **SNIP** A 56 percent majority of Connecticut voters said they were less likely to vote for him because of the mortgage controversy. Fifty-four percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with Dodd's explanation of allegations that he received preferential mortgage treatment. “Sen. Dodd is vulnerable. His approval has sunk to a new low. More voters disapprove than approve of the job he is doing for the first time in 15 years of polling,” said Quinnipiac Poll Director...

Angelo Mozilo The son of a butcher, Mozilo co-founded Countrywide in 1969 and built it into the largest mortgage lender in the U.S. Countrywide wasn't the first to offer exotic mortgages to borrowers with a questionable ability to repay them. In its all-out embrace of such sales, however, it did legitimize the notion that practically any adult could handle a big fat mortgage. In the wake of the housing bust, which toppled Countrywide and IndyMac Bank (another company Mozilo started), the executive's lavish pay package was criticized by many, including Congress. Mozilo left Countrywide last summer after its rescue-sale to...

Stunning Blunder Just Another Strand In Web Of Explanations. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd went one contrivance too far last week at his carefully choreographed press event to explain his mortgage deals with Countrywide Financial. Dodd has engaged in so many contradictions in trying to manage the gathering storm that he probably did not recognize his stunning blunder. At his Monday event, Dodd wouldn't let reporters have copies of the selected documents he let them glimpse. Instead, Dodd released a report from a Chicago firm hired with campaign funds to review his mortgage transactions. The report is carefully constructed to vindicate...

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd went one contrivance too far last week at his carefully choreographed press event to explain his mortgage deals with Countrywide Financial. Dodd has engaged in so many contradictions in trying to manage the gathering storm that he probably did not recognize his stunning blunder. At his Monday event, Dodd wouldn't let reporters have copies of the selected documents he let them glimpse. Instead, Dodd released a report from a Chicago firm hired with campaign funds to review his mortgage transactions. The report is carefully constructed to vindicate the Dodds and even make them appear to have...

Just in time for the Oscar’s, Chris Dodd makes his bid for Best Actor in a Corrupt Role . . . On this weekend’s Journal Editorial Report on FNC, host Paul Gigot interviewed Kevin Rennie of the Hartford Courant, who has been closely following the story of the sweetheart deal Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, received from Countrywide Financial under the “Friends of Angelo” program, a reference to Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. The segment opened with a clip of Dodd speaking with reporters at a recent meeting at which he made available a carefully selected set of papers...

After all the talk, the bashing by the media and demands from his constituents, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd on Monday offered apologies and stacks of documents to explain his controversial loans from Countrywide Financial Corp. Dodd's regrets still don't clarify why one of the most powerful, influential politicians in Washington didn't run from a lender who promised "VIP" treatment. It doesn't begin to explain why we had to wait half a year before learning information that Dodd has had for months. I expect more from one of the guys trying to save us from economic collapse — not to mention...

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd has finally, sort of, kind of, ended 193 days of stonewalling about his sweetheart loans from former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. At least he did if you were a fast reader and were one of the few reporters he invited to his Hartford office yesterday to review -- but not copy or take -- more than 100 pages of documents related to his 2003 mortgage financings through Countrywide's "Friends of Angelo" program. These are the files that Mr. Dodd pledged to make public after the news broke last summer that the Chairman of the Senate Banking...

-- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said Monday he will refinance two personal home mortgages from a troubled national lender that are being investigated by a Senate ethics panel. Dodd said he sought no special treatment from Countrywide Financial Corp., when he refinanced his Washington and East Haddam, Conn., homes in 2003. Dodd has acknowledged participating in a VIP program at Countrywide, which he thought referred to upgraded customer service, not reduced rates. "Knowing what I know now, I regret having ever done business with Countrywide," Dodd said The terms of the mortgages are under investigation by the Senate...

With pressure growing on him to act, U.S. Sen Christopher Dodd Monday morning allowed reporters to view all of the loan documents and communication he and his wife had when negotiating mortgages with Countrywide Financial Corp. ... "I regret I did not do this sooner and I apologize to the people of Connecticut for the delay,'' said Dodd, who was joined by his wife Jackie Clegg Dodd in a sometimes tense meeting with reporters at his Hartford offices.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd says he'll refinance two mortgages that he received through a VIP program from Countrywide Financial Corp. ... The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd says a third party will be involved in choosing the new bank.

Ameriquest Mortgage Corp. signed a contract to pay Wayne Lee $50 million for a "consulting agreement" after he quit as chief executive officer of the Orange-based subprime lender in 2005. Lee's five-year deal barred him from competing with or disparaging Ameriquest while requiring him to work a maximum 25 hours every three months. That meant Lee was paid $100,000 an hour – about half as much as the $237,000 Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant earns per regular season game. Many people have heard of Bryant, the National Basketball Association's 2008 most valuable player. Lee is less famous. In fact,...

The worst economic turmoil since the Great Depression is not a natural phenomenon but a man-made disaster in which we all played a part.In the second part of a week-long series looking behind the slump,Guardian City editor Julia Finch picks out the individuals who have led us into the current crisis Alan Greenspan, chairman of US Federal Reserve 1987- 2006Only a couple of years ago the long-serving chairman of the Fed, a committed free marketeer who had steered the US economy through crises ranging from the 1987 stockmarket collapse through to the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, was lauded with...

With the opening of the 111th Congress yesterday, all of Washington is tingling with the allure of a fresh start. Not so fast. We've got some leftover business from the 110th Congress -- namely, Chris Dodd's July 2008 promise to release the details of his sweetheart loans from Countrywide Financial. The Connecticut Senator got favored treatment from the subprime mortgage purveyor, even as he was a power broker on the Banking Committee that regulates the industry. When the news broke, the Senator first denied that he sought or expected preferential treatment. He later admitted that he knew he was considered...

SAN FRANCISCO — Herbert Sandler, the founder of the Center for Responsible Lending, is standing in his bayfront office watching a DVD that trains brokers to pitch mortgages by extolling the glories of the real estate boom. The video reeks of hucksterism, and it infuriates Mr. Sandler. “I would not have approved that!” he declares. “I don’t think we should be selling our loans based on home prices continuing to go up.” But the DVD was produced in 2005 by a mortgage lender that Mr. Sandler and his wife, Marion, ran at the time: World Savings Bank. And the video...

As the federal government keeps promising to come up with $14 billion or so to help the domestic auto industry keep one foot out of the grave, talk has swirled that there would have to be changes at the top. A federal "car czar" is on tap to sweat the details, like which people and products stay and which go, so the CEOs have been in the crosshairs – with the bull's eye squarely on General Motors' Rick Wagoner. Wagoner has headed what's soon to be the world's No. 2 automaker since 2000, closing down Oldsmobile, pumping up SUV sales...

Isn't it time that U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd came clean and released documents on two mortgages hew received from Countrywide Financial Corp. that has already sparked a Senate ethics inquiry? Following a meeting in Westport on Monday with Fairfield County labor leaders, Connecticut's senior senator once again hedged on saying when he would release the documents. Dodd continues to say the information will be forthcoming but he refuses to say when. Well, it's been five month since the disclosure that Dodd and another senator may have received preferential treatment in 2003 on mortgages from Countrywide Financial, which was later...

Is it news when a radio talk-show host who is a former Republican state senator and gubernatorial candidate accuses the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee of mortgage fraud? WELI, New Haven's No. 1 AM-radio station, has come under fire for refusing to broadcast an interview between its now-former talk-show host, Tom Scott, and Democrat Christopher Dodd. In the interview taped Oct. 29, Mr. Scott accused Sen. Dodd of mortgage fraud for taking two cut-rate mortgages from predatory lender Countrywide Financial in 2003 under a program reserved for members of Congress and other big shots. Media reports say the interview...

A news-talk radio station in New Haven, Connecticut, is refusing to air a spirited interview between a conservative host and the powerful chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Chris Dodd. NBC News reports that a federal criminal investigation into possible wrongdoing by mortgage giant Countrywide Home Loans now includes scrutiny of Countrywide's VIP program that gave special mortgage deals to government officials, including Senators Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) and Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut). Connecticut conservative radio talk-show host Tom Scott says up until now, fellow senators and the media have not questioned Dodd about his personal scandal. "I have asserted publicly...

Tom Scott conducted the interview. WELI killed it. Now you can hear it. Scott, one of Connecticut’s leading conservative voices of the past three decades, was the last local on-air voice at WELI-AM... Scott hosted a weekday 5 to 7 p.m. drive-time talk show until Oct. 29. That was the day he taped a combative interview with U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut ... The interview focused on two controversies that have dogged Dodd recently: He received personal “VIP” loans from Countrywide Financial, a predatory lender he was supposed to be regulating as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. And...

Senator Still Stonewalling On Curious Loans. Since the Dodd story broke in June, the five-term senator has offered contradictory fragments of explanations and intentions. Scheherazade after a six-pack of Red Bull would not have told more desperate tales. Dodd gallops the gamut from calling the allegations of special treatment "outrageous" to pledging repeatedly and specifically to release documents related to the $800,000 in sweetheart deals he got from Countrywide. Still claiming "there's nothing there," Dodd refuses to say whether his Senate campaign committee's payments of $60,000 last summer to a Washington law firm, which has a history of representing Democratic...

Chris Dodd Under Investigation for Sweetheart Mortgage Deal NBC news reports that the Justice Department has begun an investigation into whether Countrywide Financial Corp used the 'Friends of Angelo (Mozilo)' program to buy influence with Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and others. According to a senior Countrywide official who handled its VIP program, there was no way Dodd and Conrad could not have known they were getting a special deal: ...Feinberg says part of his job was to hammer home to the V.I.P. clients that they were getting special deals. "You spoke in a manner that was different...

The wide-ranging criminal investigation into wrongdoing at Countrywide - once the nation's largest mortgage originator - now includes serious scrutiny of a loan program that provided special mortgage deals to the well-connected and powerful, including two U.S. senators. NBC News has learned that Robert Feinberg - a former Countrywide loan officer who handled what were known as the "VIP" mortgages - spent six hours last Thursday with a six-person team from the Justice Department. The team included prosecutors from the Public Integrity section, which handles investigations of possible public corruption. "The Justice Department is making very serious inquiry into any...

Sen. Christopher Dodd's bewildering odyssey of entitlement, evasions and deceptions continued last week. He shed more credibility as he staggered through new excuses for concealing from the public documents related to his cut-rate mortgages of nearly $800,000 from subprime giant Countrywide Financial. On Wednesday, Dodd announced he wants to wait until the Senate Ethics Committee completes its investigation of his mortgage deals. There's no Senate rule requiring Dodd to remain silent during the investigation. There's no legitimate reason for Dodd to withhold from the public the array of documents, e-mails and letters from the mortgage swag bag Countrywide gave him.

Countrywide (CFC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) plunged 16% in early trading a day after the struggling mortgage lender warned in a regulatory filing that mortgage market disruption could hurt the company's financial condition. 1. Top 10 Potential Short-Squeeze Stocks 2. Apple and Google Tenuous Teammates 3. Highest-Yielding Schwarzenegger Stocks 4. You Ask, Cramer Answers 5. Top 10 Stocks With Big Insider Buying, Buybacks E*TRADE FINANCIAL Zecco.com Fisher Investments Fidelity Investments Options House TD AMERITRADE "Since the company is highly dependent on the availability of credit to finance its operations, disruptions in the debt markets or a reduction...

Banking on DoddRalph Nader blames "The Senator from Wall Street" for the financial mess we're in Thursday, October 09, 2008 By Andy Bromage Chris Dodd, the populist hero? Chris Dodd, the protector of taxpayers? Chris Dodd, the Sheriff of Wall Street? Puh-leeze. How about, Chris Dodd the guy who helped steer us into this mess in the first place? Or, Chris Dodd the guy who spent a career passing laws friendly to banks and taking gobs of their money whenever election time rolled around? Connecticut's senior senator enjoyed a moment of collective amnesia last week when pundits and the press...

A massive $8.4 billion homeowner rescue plan announced Monday by the Bank of America will provide some relief for an estimated 125,000 Californians who are having trouble making payments on sub-prime loans and other risky mortgages from Countrywide Home Loans. Bank of America bought Countrywide for $4 billion July 1 after the Calabasas-based home loan giant, among the largest sub-prime lenders in the state, collapsed under the weight of mounting defaults and foreclosures. The bank's "Home Ownership Retention Program for Countrywide Customers'' was devised by California and 10 other states to settle predatory lending lawsuits filed against Countrywide. The plan...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline)--In the largest predatory lending settlement in U.S. history, Countrywide Financial Corp. has agreed to modify home loans as part of a settlement with 11 states. Countrywide was sued by a handful of state attorneys general, who alleged that the lender engaged in predatory lending practices, including misrepresenting loan terms and borrowers' ability to afford loans.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a federal grand jury in Los Angeles is investigating the so-called "Friends of Angelo" loan program at Countrywide Financial, under which influential borrowers received preferential terms on home loans. The reported borrowers under the program have included U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Franklin Raines, and California state appeals court judge Richard Aldrich.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a federal grand jury in Los Angeles is investigating the so-called "Friends of Angelo" loan program at Countrywide Financial, under which influential borrowers received preferential terms on home loans. The reported borrowers under the program have included U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Franklin Raines, and California state appeals court judge Richard Aldrich. Today's Journal: Countrywide loans on preferential terms to influential figures are the subject of a federal grand jury investigation in Los Angeles, according to people involved in the inquiry. Prosecutors subpoenaed records of many of the so-called...

Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, made large, previously undisclosed home loans to two additional executives of Fannie Mae, the government-chartered firm at the center of the U.S. credit crisis. One of Countrywide's previously undisclosed customers at Fannie was Jamie Gorelick, an influential Democratic Party figure whose $960,000 mortgage refinancing in 2003 was handled through a program reserved for influential figures and friends of Countrywide's chief executive at the time, Angelo Mozilo. Ms. Gorelick was Fannie Mae's vice chairman at the time. [Former Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, listening to testimony on Capitol Hill in April, got a...

Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, made large, previously undisclosed home loans to two additional executives of Fannie Mae, the government-chartered firm at the center of the U.S. credit crisis. One of Countrywide's previously undisclosed customers at Fannie was Jamie Gorelick, an influential Democratic Party figure whose $960,000 mortgage refinancing in 2003 was handled through a program reserved for influential figures and friends of Countrywide's chief executive at the time, Angelo Mozilo. Ms. Gorelick was Fannie Mae's vice chairman at the time. Another Countrywide client was recently ousted Fannie Mae Chief Executive Daniel Mudd, though it isn't clear...