Countrywide’s Mozilo Resumes Cash-Out

CALABASAS, Calif. – Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo, who recently halted his lucrative sale of company stock as the nation’s largest mortgage lender slid near the abyss, resumed his options play this week to the tune of more than $5 million in profits. Mozilo, who has earned more than $90 million so far this year by exercising options, exercised 560,000 options over the last four days at $9.94 each, then sold the shares for between $20.14 and $18.36, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mozilo’s pay–he’s taken home more than $350 million in the last three years–has rankled investors lately as the company has been squeezed by the liquidity crisis in the mortgage market. Rumors of insolvency were quashed only after a $2 billion bail-out by Bank of America.