The Secret 'Friends of Angelo'

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Angelo Mozilo, the former Countrywide Financial CEO charged with fraud and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission, had a lot of "friends." The Democratic leadership in Congress just doesn't want you to know their names -- or the details of their loans from Countrywide.

What we know is that Senators Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad were among the VIPs who received sweetheart mortgages under the "Friends of Angelo" program. What we don't know is how many other government officials also received such favors, or what exactly Countrywide expected in return.

A March report by Congressman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) highlighted internal Countrywide emails in which executives debated whether the mayor of Billings, Montana, was influential enough to warrant a waiving of his mortgage insurance premium. The company ultimately decided that he was.

We can only imagine what Countrywide's internal emails might say about the benefits of "friendship" with Mr. Dodd, who chairs the Banking Committee of the U.S. Senate, or about others who benefited from the program...

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