BUSINESS BRIEFS
Man confesses to selling loan data
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A man has pleaded guilty to charges that he sold private financial data of customers of mortgage lender Countrywide Home Loans.
Prosecutors say Wahid Siddiqi of Thousand Oaks, Calif. pleaded guilty yesterday to 10 counts of fraud and could face up to 150 years in prison when he is sentenced March 9.
An e-mail message left for Siddiqi's attorney, David Reed, was not immediately returned.
Siddiqi was accused of accepting the information from Rene Rebollo, a former senior analyst at Countrywide who allegedly downloaded and sold the data from customers.
Rebollo has pleaded not guilty and is set to stand trial next month.
Countrywide is now part of Bank of America Corp.
OIL PRICES FALL ON ENERGY PROJECTION
HOUSTON — Oil prices dipped to near $42 a barrel yesterday amid new reports the anemic global economy will lead to an even sharper falloff in energy consumption through 2009.
There also were indications that internal divisions continue at OPEC, as member states pummeled by falling oil prices ignore promised production cuts that might boost prices.
At the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude for January delivery fell $1.64 to settle at $42.07 a barrel. Prices have rebounded from last week's intraday low of $40.50 per barrel, the cheapest oil has been since December 2004.
VIDEO GAME SALES SHORT OF FORECAST
NEW YORK — Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. said yesterday it expects revenue and earnings for fiscal 2009 to miss its prior outlook because of weaker-than-expected holiday sales. The company also plans to cut more jobs to reduce costs.
The Redwood City, Calif.-based publisher of games like the "Madden" football series and "Rock Band" said its sales in North America and Europe were below expectations.
The company says it does not plan to provide an updated forecast for the fiscal year, which ends in March, until it posts its third-quarter results in February.
CREDIT-CARD DEAL A BOOST FOR DELTA
ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's biggest carrier, said yesterday it is getting a $1 billion boost following a credit-card agreement it has reached with American Express Co. A company executive also said Delta expects to turn a profit in 2009.
The agreement between Delta and American Express is a multiyear extension of their existing partnership. The companies have offered a portfolio of card products since 1996.
IACOCCA DEFENDS AUTOMAKER CEOS
DETROIT — Lee Iacocca, the man who led Chrysler through a government bailout in the late 1970s, says the CEOs of Detroit's automakers should not be forced to quit as a condition of getting government loans.
Iacocca, Chrysler's retired chairman and chief executive, said in a statement yesterday that now is not the time to make executive changes, as suggested by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn.
