‘Perversity’ in Calabasas: More $$$ for Countrywide bigs

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News item from the L.A. Times: ‘The top two executives of beleaguered Countrywide Financial Corp. will pocket $19 million in stock next week, according to a regulatory filing. It’s the start of a series of multimillion-dollar payments expected to go to the pair before and after the company’s pending takeover by Bank of America Corp.’

More: ‘The largesse for Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo and President David Sambol drew immediate fire from Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, whose members have been debating the merits of a government bailout of consumers and mortgage lenders caught in the sub-prime meltdown.

‘It’s perverse [emphasis added] for Bank of America to reward the principal architects of the bad business practices that caused this housing crisis,’ Schumer said in a statement. ‘Bank of America will hopefully correct the bad practices Countrywide put in place. But enriching people who specialized in deceiving borrowers for the sake of their bottom line will not help that cause.’

Also: ‘Bank of America Corp. will pay $28 million to Countrywide Financial Corp. to chief operating officer David Sambol to retain him as head of the merging companies’ consumer mortgage operations.’

The headline is a cheap shot, I’ll admit -- anytime you’re quoting Chuck Schumer in a headline, it’s a low blow. But in all seriousness: Do you mean to tell me David Sambol is uniquely qualified to lead Countrywide after Bank of America buys it? I mean, I’m sure he’s good at his job. So was Karl Dorrell, but UCLA found another football coach. So was Grady Little, but the Dodgers found another manager.

This is the Countrywide management team that says no one predicted the mortgage crisis; these are the guys who said last summer that Countrywide would benefit from the mortgage meltdown. Then they went out and lost $1.2 billion in the third quarter, lost $442 million in the fourth and sold the company for a fraction of its previous value. And this is the very best management team Bank of America can find?

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com