SEC Staff to Recommend Civil Charges for Mozilo

Staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission have decided to recommend filing civil fraud charges against Angelo Mozilo, the co-founder of Countrywide Financial Corp., according to people familiar with the investigation.

The SEC sent a so-called Wells notice to Mr. Mozilo several weeks ago alerting him of the planned charges, the people said. The potential charges include alleged violations of insider-trading laws as well as failing to disclose material information to shareholders, according to one person familiar with the matter... Mr. Mozilo's attorneys could still persuade the SEC's commissioners not to bring a case.