Florida wins a round in effort to make Mozilo stand trial
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Florida’s attempt to put former Countrywide Financial Corp. CEO Angelo Mozilo on trial for alleged deceptive practices in lending got a boost today.
From the Wall Street Journal:
On Thursday, a U.S. District Court judge remanded a lawsuit filed by the state of Florida against Mozilo back to Broward County Civil Court. The action came in a case filed by Florida Atty. Gen. Bill McCollum alleging that Mozilo and Countrywide violated the state’s deceptive trade practices act by placing consumers in loans they could not afford or with rates that were false or misleading. After the complaint was filed, Mozilo and Countrywide sought to have the case removed to federal court. Bank of America Corp., which acquired Countrywide last year, settled the Florida case without admitting or denying guilt.
‘Angelo Mozilo should absolutely face a Florida court and Florida’s citizens for his business practices, especially those which victimized Florida homeowners,’ McCollum said in a statement. ‘I am pleased the Federal Court sent the case back to our state court and my office will continue to aggressively pursue its case against Mr. Mozilo.’
To read McCollum’s statement, and for a link to the federal court order, go here.
-- Tom Petruno