By Timothy W. Martin
A former Countrywide Financial Corp. manager is the third
whistleblower to receive tens of millions of dollars as part of a
record $16.65 billion federal penalty against Bank of America
Corp.
Shareef Abdou, who first joined Countrywide Home Loans in 2006
and eventually rose to a senior vice president at Bank of America's
Los Angeles office, will receive around $48 million for his
cooperation in the investigation, according to a person familiar
with the matter. He oversaw residential mortgage-backed securities
claims at Countrywide.
Mr. Abdou is currently on a leave of absence from Bank of
America. The details of his payment have yet to be unsealed. Mr.
Abdou and Bank of America weren't immediately available for
comment.
The Countrywide and Bank of America case involves the sale of
residential mortgage bonds that eventually cratered in value. In
addition to Mr. Abdou, three other whistleblowers filed claims with
the Justice Department.
Two others names have surfaced so far. Edward O'Donnell, a
former Countrywide executive, will collect nearly $58 million,
according to a court filing this week. Robert Madsen, a 47-year-old
former employee of LandSafe, a property appraisal company that is a
subsidiary of Bank of America, will collect a similar amount, the
New York Times reported Thursday.
It is unclear who the fourth whistleblower is.
Mr. Abdou, who is in his 30s, managed more than 150 associates
in his role as senior vice president at Bank of America. "He was
able to indicate that there was an institutional breakdown within
the bank, and this was a systemic problem, not an isolated
incident," said Brian Mahany, a Milwaukee-based attorney who
represents Mr. Abdou.
Mr. Abdou's whistleblower case was filed on Jan. 14 with the
U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.
Bank of America's 2008 purchase of Countrywide has led to a
number of legal headaches, including a multistate settlement over
alleged predatory lending practices just months after Bank of
America bought the lender.
Lisa Schwartz and Christina Rexrode contributed to this
article.
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