Criminal Investigation of Countrywide Chief Ends

Federal prosecutors have ended a criminal investigation of Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive of the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, without taking any action against him, according to a person with direct knowledge of the investigation who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. A grand jury investigation took more than two years exploring Mr. Mozillo’s conduct during the mortgage crisis at Countrywide, once the nation’s largest mortgage lender.
In October, Mr. Mozilo paid $67.5 million to settle a civil securities fraud lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The S.E.C. had accused Mr. Mozilo of masking the risks of the subprime mortgage market in public statements to shareholders. In settling, Mr. Mozilo neither admitted nor denied the S.E.C.’s accusations.
The Justice Department does not announce when it has ended an inquiry. News of the inquiry’s closing was reported earlier by The Los Angeles Times.