Mozilo and Countrywide: A chronology

Here is a chronology of events involving Angelo Mozilo and Countrywide Financial Corp.:

1969: Mozilo and David Loeb found Countrywide Credit Industries, which later becomes Countrywide Financial.

1992: Countrywide becomes the nation’s largest mortgage lender.

2005: Countrywide earns its largest profit to date, $2.5 billion. Mozilo takes home $160 million in pay and stock-option profit.

September 2007: Amid a crash in the subprime market, Countrywide says it will cut nearly 20% of its workforce.

October 2007: Securities and Exchange Commission regulators begin looking into $145 million in stock sales by Mozilo in the months before the company’s shares plunged.

Jan. 11, 2008: Bank of America Corp. announces it will buy Countrywide. The transaction is completed six months later.

June 4, 2009: The SEC files suit against Mozilo, accusing him of fraud and insider trading.

Oct. 15, 2010: Mozilo agrees to pay $22.5 million in fines and turn over $45 million in allegedly ill-gotten gains. The latter payment is to be covered by Bank of America.

—Times research by Scott J. Wilson