Co-founder and former Countrywide Financial chief executive Angelo Mozilo has largely escaped accountability for his outsize role in the mortgage crisis, but he may soon face a civil lawsuit from the Justice Department, The New York Times reported on Saturday. The possibility of a new case against him came almost exactly seven years after the subprime mortgage machine that he created and oversaw began to sputter and stall. That process began in earnest on Aug. 16, 2007, when the company disclosed that it was drawing down its entire $11.5 billion revolving credit line. It is unclear if prosecutors will indeed take action against Mozilo. In 2011, the Justice Department mysteriously decided to drop a criminal case against the former executive after a two-year investigation. If he is back in the hot seat, it may be instructive to revisit some of his, and his company’s, contributions to the mortgage crisis.
