Countrywide ‘V.I.P.’ Loans Linked to McKeon and Gallegly

The lawmakers, Howard McKeon and Elton Gallegly, both Republicans from Southern California, were not accused of any wrongdoing, and they denied having had any knowledge of being among the “V.I.P.’s” listed in a Countrywide program that granted loans at lower rates than were available to the public.

Their names were forwarded to the House Ethics Committee by Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California, who is investigating the Countrywide loan matter in his capacity as chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The lawmakers’ appearance on the Countrywide list was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Representative Edolphus Towns, Democrat of New York, is the only member of the House who had been connected publicly to Countrywide’s special loan arrangement — the so-called Friends of Angelo program, named for Angelo Mozilo, the longtime chief executive of the now-defunct lender. Mr. Mozilo agreed to pay $67.5 million in penalties in a 2010 settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. Towns, Mr. McKeon and Mr. Gallegly all said they never asked for special treatment on their loans, or gave any favor to Countrywide in Congress. The name of a fourth House member on the V.I.P. list has not been revealed.

Mr. Issa, through a committee spokesperson, declined to comment on his investigation.

A spokeswoman for Mr. McKeon described the lawmaker as “shocked and angry” upon hearing that his loan, worth $315,000, had come up in the investigation. “He had no knowledge of the Friends of Angelo designation,” said the spokeswoman, Alissa McCurley. Mr. McKeon, who is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, “has never met or spoken to Angelo Mozilo,” Ms. McCurley said. “Mr. McKeon is going back trying to figure out what Countrywide did to this loan 13 years ago.”

Mr. Gallegly, who worked as a real estate broker before coming to Congress, announced last week that he would not seek re-election in 2012 after 25 years in the House. While he continues to invest in properties, he said he had never heard of the V.I.P. program until he was asked about it by a Journal reporter, his spokesman, Thomas Pfeifer, said.

“He takes out loans through various lending institutions,” Mr. Pfeifer said in an e-mail. “And even though Countrywide was the country’s largest mortgage lender at the time and its regional headquarters was literally a few miles from his home, Mr. Gallegly could only find a record of one loan from Countrywide, a home equity loan he took out in 2004 and paid off in 2005. The payoff was $77,000 at 5.75 percent interest.”

Mr. Gallegly said he had never met Mr. Mozilo.

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