The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform late Wednesday issued a subpoena, asking Bank of America to hand over all documents related to Countrywide Financial's 'Friends of Angelo' program by March 7.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Countrywide "orchestrated a deliberate and calculated effort to use relationships with people in order to manipulate public policy and further their bottom line to the detriment of the American taxpayers even at the expense of its own lending standards."
Rep. Issa is trying to find the identities of additional high profile borrowers who benefitted from the program, which was started some time last decade by then CFC chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo. (Mozilo handled some of the loans himself.)
B of A bought Countrywide in August 2008 as its fortunes were crumbling. The 'FoA' program is a VIP initiative where the lender, for many years, issued mortgages to friends and associates of the company, offering preferential terms. Elected officials, Fannie Mae executives, and even journalists received such loans.
The two highest profile elected officials in Washington who received FoA mortgages were Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.
In 2009 both senators were the subject of a Senate Ethics Committee probe regarding the discounts they received but were cleared of official wrongdoing. Sen. Conrad is still in office. Sen. Dodd retired last year.
