17 July (Reuters) – Angelo Mosillo, who made Countrywide Financial Corporation one of the largest U.S. mortgage lenders before it collapsed in the 2008 financial crisis, has died, the family foundation said.
Mosillo, 84, died of natural causes, the foundation said in a statement on Sunday.
He became the face of the mortgage bankruptcy when the subprime crisis surfaced in 2007. He was the son of a Bronx butcher and embodied the rag-to-riches success story.
In 2006, when Mr. Mosillo was president of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, the company originated $461 billion worth of loans, nearly $41 billion of which was for subprime. Subprime loans contributed to the global financial crisis.
The company was later bought by Bank of America (BAC.N) for $2.5 billion, less than 10% of its value in early 2007.
Mosiro was also indicted by securities regulators for alleged insider trading and securities fraud. Once voted one of America’s best CEOs, the CEO has since been named the second worst US CEO of all time by Condé Nast Portfolio.
Bloomberg earlier reported the news of Mosillo’s death.
Mosillo has repeatedly defended accusations that he was a key architect of the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
“For some unknown reason I was accused of it,” he previously said.
Reported by Shubendu Deshmukh, Bangalore and Nupur Anand, New York; edited by Franklin Paul and Deepa Babington
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