SEC questions Countryside CEO stock sale

NEW YORK, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly has opened an informal investigation into stock sales of the chief executive of Countrywide Financial.

At issue was said to be the timing of the sales which allowed Angelo Mozilo, the Countrywide CEO, to gain more than $132 million in the months before the price fell hard in the midst of the deepening mortgage crisis, The New York Times said.

It was the latest reported problem to hit the struggling mortgage lender.

SEC staff members confirmed they were scrutinizing the use of the type of trading plan Mozilo employed to sell about 5 million Countrywide shares over the past year, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Reports say that since 2004, Mozilo has sold shares through prearranged selling programs. But the pace of the sales, which have generated $300 million in gains for him since 2005, began to increase last October after the introduction of a new program.

Since Feb. 2, Countrywide's stock price has tumbled 61 percent. Shares closed down 74 cents Wednesday, at $17.35.