Fortuitousness

Wow. Lucky guy, huh. LATimes (09.29.07):

"As the mortgage industry swooned in late 2006 and 2007, Countrywide Financial Corp. Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo cashed in stock options valued at $138 million -- vastly expanding his wealth even as his shareholders watched their stock shrink in value.

Company executives say Mozilo did nothing wrong and that the transactions were made under trading plans that specified how many shares would be sold each month."

Countrywide CEO sold big as stock dropped

"Similar trading plans have been used by hundreds of executives since they were greenlighted by federal regulators in 2000 as a means of fending off accusations of insider trading."

Usually, you sign on to a plan and stick with it, through thick and thin. Not Angelo. "(H)e shifted course twice in late 2006 and early 2007, according to regulatory filings, amid mounting signs of trouble in the housing and mortgage industries."

"Mozilo adopted a new trading plan, added a second and then revised it, allowing him to unload hundreds of thousands of additional shares before Countrywide stock went into a tailspin."

A Countrywide representative said all the stock sales were "'in accordance with company policy'", and that the "'plans were put into place in consultation with Mr. Mozilo's financial advisor, without regard to any non-public or market information'."

None, I tell you. Absolutely none.

Besides. Angelo ain't no chump.