Sideways: Inconsistent Brown rewrites history

Jay Brown, chief executive of monoline insurer MBIA, certainly does not lack nerve. A lesser executive might have stayed in retirement after it became apparent that the business model he developed in almost a decade at the helm of the firm was hopelessly flawed. Instead Brown – who temporarily stepped down as chief executive in 2007 – returned in 2008 to resume battle with his many critics. He has been a thorn in the side of bank chief executives ever since and is winning more battles than he loses as he attempts to shift blame for MBIA’s central role in the credit crisis to the dealers that structured ABS and CDO deals backed by poorly performing mortgages.