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Countrywide Financial forged documents in Pennsylvania bankruptcy case

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Shares of Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) plunged today on reports that the company was nearing bankruptcy. The stock has recovered somewhat since the company put out a statement saying that "There is no substance to the rumor that Countrywide is planning to file for bankruptcy, and we are not aware of any basis for the rumor that any of the major rating agencies are contemplating negative action relative to the company."

But that's not the only bad press the company has gotten today.

Federal bankruptcy judge Thomas P. Agresti had this to say about documents "recreated" by Countrywide that are part of a bankruptcy proceeding in Pennsylvania: "These are a sign that something is not right in Denmark".

The botched Shakespeare reference aside, this is big trouble for Countrywide. According to the New York Times, "The emergence of the fabricated documents comes as Countrywide confronts a rising tide of complaints from borrowers who claim that the company pushed them into risky loans. The matter in Pittsburgh is one of 300 bankruptcy cases in which Countrywide's practices have come under scrutiny in western Pennsylvania. "

Countrywide Financial spokesman Rick Simon said that "It is not Countrywide's policy to create or 'fabricate' any documents as evidence that they were sent if they had not been. We believe it will be shown in further discovery that the Countrywide bankruptcy technician who generated the documents at issue did so as an efficient way to convey the dates the escrow analyses were done and the calculations of the payments as a result of the analyses."

The case is pretty complicated, but the "recreation" and backdating of documents without any kind of disclaimer is highly irregular at best.

A few things come to mind: the "recreation" of documents by a Countrywide bankruptcy technician is evidence of major internal controls issues at the company and investors should suspect that if Countrywide did have those issues, worse news will come.

Secondly, Angelo Mozilo's reaction throughout this whole mess has essentially been to keep selling stock and maintain his wonderful tan. That he still has a job is indicative of just how supine the company's board of directors is.

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Last updated: July 06, 2009: 12:01 AM

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