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Subprime Lender CEOs Defend Exec Pay
Merrill, Citi and Countrywide honchos cashed in as companies foundered
By Matt Cantor
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Posted Mar 7, 08 3:50 PM CST
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(Newser)
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Banking executives who took home huge paychecks even as the subprime mortgage crisis battered their companies appeared before Congress today to defend their actions. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee grilled them about their enormous pay packages as Republicans apologized to them and questioned the premise of the hearing, the New York Times reports.
Stanley O’Neal of Merrill Lynch and Charles Prince of Citgroup—both of whom lost their jobs and received 8-figure severance packages—and Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, who has made over $400 million in his current post, argued that reports of their compensation were overblown and that they earned their salaries, reports the Wall Street Journal. "As our company did well, I did well," Mozilo testified.