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Lehman May 29
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Lehman’s Fuld Says It Wasn’t His Fault
May 28, 2015 | The Wall Street Journal
By Maureen Farrell
In an appearance marking his return to the public eye, Richard Fuld Jr. insisted he doesn’t want to play “woulda, coulda, shoulda” about the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. But the former chief executive, speaking Thursday to a crowd of more than 1,500 people at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Midtown Manhattan, was unrepentant... -
Ex-Lehman CEO Fuld Says 27,000 Employees Were Risk Managers
May 28, 2015 | Bloomberg
By Yalman Onaran and Zeke Faux
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. had 27,000 risk managers -- the firm’s stockholding employees -- before it collapsed in 2008, former Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld said. “Regardless of what you heard about Lehman Brothers’ risk management, I had 27,000 risk managers because they all owned a piece of the firm,” Fuld, 69, said Thursday in ... -
Unrepentant Lehman Ex-CEO Fuld Says Firm 'Was Not Bankrupt'
May 28, 2015 | Reuters
By Lauren Tara LaCapra
May 28 Six years, seven months and 13 days after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc filed for bankruptcy, its former chief executive, Richard Fuld Jr., is still insisting it did not go broke. "Lehman Brothers in 2008 was not a bankrupt company," Fuld said at a conference in Manhattan on Thursday, his first such public appearance since the financial... -
Former Lehman Brothers CEO Breaks Silence
May 28, 2015 | CNBC
Former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld speaks for the first time since the collapse back in 2008. CNBC's Kate Kelly reports. -
Lehman’s Fuld, 7 Years Later, Says ‘Perfect Storm’ Caused Crisis
May 28, 2015 | The Wall Street Journal - MoneyBeat
By Maureen Farrell and Stephanie Yang
Richard Fuld Jr., the man at the helm of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. when it collapsed in 2008, said a “perfect storm” of events caused the financial crisis. Among the contributing factors Mr. Fuld listed Thursday were government officials who pushed for lower home-lending standards and homeowners who used their equity on their... -
Ex-Lehman CEO Blames Variety of Factors For Collapse
May 28, 2015 | AP (in CNBC)
In his first public remarks since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, former CEO Richard Fuld said no single factor caused the 2008 financial crisis that destroyed Lehman. Fuld said Lehman Brothers "was all about team" and put clients first. He added that because every employee owned stock in the company, they were all focused on the good... -
Lehman's Fuld: No One Thing Caused the Crisis
May 28, 2015 | CNBC
By Evelyn Cheng
The government's push to expand home ownership and an environment of easy credit helped produce the financial crisis among a variety of other factors, former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld—once the face of the crisis—said Thursday. Fuld, in his first public remarks since Lehman's collapse, also told the Marcum MicroCap... -
Lehman Brothers' Former CEO Blames Bad Regulations For Bank's Collapse
May 28, 2015 | The Guardian (UK)
By Simon Bowers
Dick Fuld, the chief executive who led Lehman Brothers to the largest corporate collapse in modern times, has defended the failed investment bank’s culture, insisting that it was a victim of wider market excesses and regulatory failings in his first public speech since the banking crash of 2008. -
I Have No Regrets, Says Lehman Boss
May 29, 2015 | The Times (UK)
By Joanna Walters
The former boss of Lehman Brothers broke cover for his first voluntary public outing since the 2008 global financial crisis by telling a financial conference in New York yesterday that he had “no regrets” about what happened. Dick Fuld, who was vilified over the collapse of Lehman, blamed regulators, borrowers and the government ... -
Dick Fuld: 'Lehman Was Not A Bankrupt Company'
May 28, 2015 | Fortune
By Stephen Gandel
In a speech at an investment conference, Lehman Brothers’ former CEO said his firm wasn’t broke, but that he has many regrets. When it comes to the financial crisis, the gorilla still seems to be in the mist. Dick Fuld, the former CEO of Lehman Brothers, whose large forehead and demeanor has led people over the years to compare him to a primate... -
Ex-Lehman CEO Fuld Emerges After 7 Years
May 29, 2015 | CNBC
The former Lehman CEO, speaking publicly for the first time since 2008, addressed the 'perfect storm' that led to the crisis. -
Lehman Brothers Ex-CEO Blames Everyone Else For Financial Crisis
May 29, 2015 | Politico
By Nick Gass
In his first public speech since the 2008 financial crisis, former Lehman Brothers chairman and CEO Richard “Dick” Fuld, famed for his brash, hard-charging style, was unapologetic about his firm’s role in the economic calamity that nearly brought the global economy to a standstill. -
Life After Lehman Brothers: Dick Fuld’s Murky Investment Secrets
May 28, 2015 | Fox Business News
By Charlie Gasparino
Since his inglorious exit as chief executive of Lehman Brothers in 2008, Dick Fuld has preferred to keep a low public profile. But nearly from the moment the storied investment bank filed for bankruptcy, Fuld has been planning, albeit quietly, a comeback as a dealmaker. -
Dick Fuld, Disgraced Former CEO Of Lehman Brothers, Makes Bizarre Comeback
May 28, 2015 | The Huffington Post
By Ben Walsh
Dick Fuld, part villain and part unforgivably very confused bystander to the financial crisis in the eyes of most -- and a victim of the financial crisis to himself -- made a bizarre comeback at a conference in New York on Thursday. In his first public appearance (other than sworn congressional testimony) since the collapse of Lehman Brothers... -
Dick Fuld, Former CEO Of Failed Bank Lehman Brothers, Speaks Publicly For First Time Since Financial Crisis
May 28, 2015 | International Business Times
By Owen Davis
Richard Fuld, former CEO of Lehman Brothers, sounded at turns defensive and contemplative in his first public comments since his bank folded in 2008, helping to set off the financial crisis. "I thought it was time," said Fuld, who has kept a low public profile since then. "Time for me to raise my ugly head." -
Fuld Defends Lehman During First Public Appearance Since 2008 Bankruptcy
May 28, 2015 | The DC
By Emmakristina Sveen
At the Marcum Microcap Investment Conference in Manhattan on Thursday, former Lehman Brothers CEO, Richard “Dick” Fuld, Jr., appeared publicly to speak for the first time since filing for bankruptcy in 2008. Fuld — the presiding executive at the time of Lehman Brothers infamous 2008 collapse — spoke to numerous... -
Ex-Lehman CEO: 'Why Don't You Bite Me?'
May 28, 2015 | Business Insider
By Jonathan Marino, Linette Lopez, and Julia La Roche
Former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld is making his first public speech since the demise of Lehman in September 2008. Before its bankruptcy, Lehman Brothers was the fourth largest Wall Street bank. Fuld, who had been CEO since 1994, delivered the keynote address at the Marcum MicroCap Conference in Midtown Manhattan. -
Ex-Lehman CEO Dick Fuld: At Least My Mom Still Loves Me
May 28, 2015 | CNN Money
By Matt Egan
As the disgraced former CEO of Lehman Brothers, he had just presided over the largest bankruptcy in American history. Fuld quickly became the poster child for the reckless risk taking that fueled the Wall Street meltdown and Great Recession. Since the financial crisis Fuld has largely stayed silent -- until Thursday when he decided... -
Ex-Lehman CEO Dick Fuld: Everyone to Blame For Collapse Except Me
May 28, 2015 | NY Post
By Kevin Dugan
Dick Fuld spent seven years in exile but is far from contrite. The former bank chieftain, who has been a public outcast since he led Lehman Brothers to its demise seven years ago, said Thursday a “perfect storm” of events caused the financial crisis. Fuld, known as the Gorilla of Wall Street for his competitive streak, blamed... -
Richard Fuld Has No Regrets over Lehman Brothers’ Resounding Collapse
May 29, 2015 | Trinity News Daily
By Jac Hardy
Richard Fuld, the former chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers nominated by the Time magazine as one of the 25 people to blame for the 2008 financial crisis, said in a recent public appearance that he had nothing to do with the collapse of the fourth-largest investment bank in the U.S. -
Ex-Lehman Boss To Launch Stock Exchange This Summer
May 28, 2015 | USA Today
By Kaja Whitehouse
Former Lehman Bros. chief Dick Fuld spoke publicly for the first time on Thursday in part to pave the way for this summer's relaunch of the National Stock Exchange, which Fuld part owns. The former Lehman chief took to a Manhattan hotel stage on Thursday because he is working on several "higher ... -
CU Grad Dick Fuld, Ex-Lehman CEO, Speaks For First Time In Years, Looking Back On Crisis (Video)
May 28, 2015 | Denver Business Journal
By Mark Harden
Richard Fuld — onetime chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings and a poster child for the nation's financial meltdown — made his first public remarks in several years Thursday, speaking about the causes of the crisis and Lehman's collapse. -
Former Lehman Chief Blames Crisis On 'Perfect Storm'
May 29, 2015 | Agence France-Presse (in ABS CBN News)
In his first public appearance since 2008, former Lehman Brothers chief Richard Fuld Thursday blamed the financial crisis on a "perfect storm" of factors. Fuld, who has kept a low profile since his firm's failure in September 2008 helped set off the biggest financial firestorm since 1929, said at an investment conference that the crisis was ... -
'Fast Money' Recap: Lehman's Former CEO Dick Fuld Speaks, Chips Consolidate
May 28, 2015 | The Street
By Dawn Kawamoto
It's been seven years since Lehman Brothers collapsed in a $700 billion bankruptcy and became the poster child of the financial crisis. The CNBC 'Fast Money Halftime' trading panel weighed in on comments that its former CEO Dick Fuld made at micro cap conference as well as the consolidation in the chip industry following Avago Technologies'... -
Dick Fuld Not Done Just Yet – Ex Lehman CEO To Launch New Stock Exchange
May 29, 2015 | LeapRate
By Mike Fox
Multiple media sources including USA Today have reported on ex-Lehman Brothers boss Dick Fuld, who finally broke his silence 7 years after the collapse of the investment banking giant. Kaja Whitehouse of USA Today reported today that former Lehman Bros. chief Dick Fuld spoke publicly for the first time since the 2008 collapse on...
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Dick Fuld
Full Text of Stories Below
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Lehman’s Fuld Says It Wasn’t His Fault
May 28, 2015 | The Wall Street Journal
By Maureen Farrell
In an appearance marking his return to the public eye, Richard Fuld Jr. insisted he doesn’t want to play “woulda, coulda, shoulda” about the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
But the former chief executive, speaking Thursday to a crowd of more than 1,500 people at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Midtown Manhattan, was unrepentant about his late firm’s culture and its role in the financial crisis, largely placing the blame instead on misguided government and central-bank policy and irresponsible borrowers. At times jocular and reflective, the 69-year-old also flashed his combative side.
When asked why he didn’t simply ride off into the sunset after Lehman’s collapse, Mr. Fuld responded, “Why don’t you just bite me?” He quickly followed up by saying he couldn’t give up and felt he had “no choice” but to start his new firm, Matrix Advisors LLC.
As the keynote lunch speaker at the 2015 Marcum MicroCap Conference in New York, Mr. Fuld spoke before a sympathetic crowd. His remarks, keenly awaited on Wall Street, were broadcast live for several minutes on CNBC.
Mr. Fuld, who joined Lehman Brothers after college and spent 38 years there, has kept a low profile since the firm’s bankruptcy in 2008. In speaking of his return to the public eye, he joked that he doesn’t count his “wonderful time with Congress” as a public appearance and called the conference catering to small and midsize businesses the right venue for re-entering public life.
Mr. Fuld’s comments about Lehman were broadly consistent with his testimony before Congress in October of 2008, when he was dubbed a “villain” by one U.S. representative and another said, “You don’t acknowledge that you did anything wrong, and that is troubling to me.”
Mr. Fuld on Thursday reiterated that he had “no regrets.”
He outlined what he called the “perfect storm” of events that led to the financial crisis, saying “it all started with the government” and policies that subsidized cheap loans for people to buy homes in order to help them chase the American dream.
The ex-bank executive later added lax regulators, homeowners who used equity on their houses “as ATM accounts” and the explosive growth of hedge funds as other contributors to the economic meltdown.
Mr. Fuld said he is comfortable he did everything possible to save the 158-year-old firm, which employed 25,000 people when it collapsed.
Speaking less than 12 blocks from Lehman’s former headquarters, Mr. Fuld argued the firm was “mandated into bankruptcy” and could have survived the credit crunch that swept the country in late 2008. He defended the bank’s capital structure at the time and listed several metrics as evidence, such as its Tier 1 capital ratio of 11%, which is well above the level currently required for big banks.
He said more information would come out that showing Lehman was “not a bankrupt company in 2008.” It wasn’t clear what Mr. Fuld was referring to, and he didn’t take questions after the event.
In a scathing report in 2010, bankruptcy-court examiner Anton Valukas concluded that Lehman officials chose to “disregard or overrule the firm’s risk controls on a regular basis,” even as the credit and real-estate markets were showing signs of strain. Mr. Valukas declined to comment on Mr. Fuld’s remarks.
Mr. Fuld’s supporters said it was important for him to defend his old firm and his own conduct.
“It does really irk him a great deal” to be called a villain, said William Uchimoto, a securities lawyer who has traveled twice to China with Mr. Fuld on business trips. Mr. Uchimoto called Mr. Fuld “a victim of circumstance” who still has a lot of energy for his business ventures.
“He doesn’t need redemption. He looks in the mirror every day … and sees someone that did an honest effort to try to do the right things, and he will still continue to do the right things,” Mr. Uchimoto said.
Former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, a frequent critic of Wall Street and co-author of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-reform law, said Mr. Fuld’s logic didn’t add up. “Yes there was a failure in regulation,” said Mr. Frank, who retired in 2013. But he added, “I can’t think of any law that applied to Lehman that made them buy” bad loans.
On several occasions Thursday, Mr. Fuld nodded to his unpopular standing among many Americans. At one point, he noted that his 96-year-old mother still loved him and another time said it is “time for me to raise my ugly head”
David Karlin, a managing director at Mr. Fuld’s new firm, Matrix, said the company has 11 full-time employees and about a dozen active clients in an “eclectic” range of industries. The companies it advises typically are valued at less than $250 million, he said.
Mr. Fuld started his remarks with a brief discussion of what he described as Lehman’s client-first culture and its compensation practices, which he said fostered a sense of teamwork.
“Regardless of what you heard about Lehman’s risk management, I had 27,000 risk managers, because they all owned a piece of the firm,” he said. The bank’s employees collectively held more than 30% of Lehman’s stock, he said...
For full story:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/lehmans-fuld-says-it-wasnt-his-fault-1432854446
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Ex-Lehman CEO Fuld Says 27,000 Employees Were Risk Managers
May 28, 2015 | Bloomberg
By Yalman Onaran and Zeke Faux
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. had 27,000 risk managers -- the firm’s stockholding employees -- before it collapsed in 2008, former Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld said.
“Regardless of what you heard about Lehman Brothers’ risk management, I had 27,000 risk managers because they all owned a piece of the firm,” Fuld, 69, said Thursday in his first public address since the financial crisis.
Fuld, the keynote speaker at the Marcum MicroCap Conference in New York, called Lehman one of the greatest investment banks on the street. Employees owned more than 30 percent of the stock, he said, before it imploded in September 2008 and made the largest corporate filing for bankruptcy protection in U.S. history.
He recounted his career at Lehman, saying it built a culture based on serving clients. Fuld blamed a perfect storm caused by easy access to credit for the financial crisis...
For full story:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-28/ex-lehman-ceo-fuld-says-all-27-000-employees-were-risk-managers
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Unrepentant Lehman Ex-CEO Fuld Says Firm 'Was Not Bankrupt'
May 28, 2015 | Reuters
By Lauren Tara LaCapra
May 28 Six years, seven months and 13 days after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc filed for bankruptcy, its former chief executive, Richard Fuld Jr., is still insisting it did not go broke.
"Lehman Brothers in 2008 was not a bankrupt company," Fuld said at a conference in Manhattan on Thursday, his first such public appearance since the financial crisis for which Lehman's massive Chapter 11 filing marked a tipping point.
During a speech that lasted a little more than 30 minutes, Fuld waxed nostalgic about the history of Lehman Brothers and his career on Wall Street, and ruminated about financial markets and current events.
At times he flashed a sense of humor - joking, for instance, that the beverage he was drinking was not alcoholic and teasing the audience for paying more attention to their lunch than to him. At other times he became emotional, remembering how "dark" it felt in the aftermath of Lehman's bankruptcy, and mimicking the way he looks in the mirror and speaks to himself to boost his confidence.
"Open your heart and love and be loved," he said. "My mother still loves me. She's 96."
But in his comments, Fuld was not humble or contrite. He blamed the financial crisis on a "perfect storm" and characterized Lehman's collapse as something that was largely outside of his control.
"Regardless of what you heard about Lehman's risk management, I had 27,000 risk managers at the firm because they all owned a piece of the firm," he said, referring to Lehman's employees at the time, who he said were all shareholders.
Lehman filed for the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history on September 15, 2008 after a harrowing weekend during which big-bank CEOs and senior government officials tried, but failed, to come up with a rescue plan.
Its collapse triggered a broader market panic that eventually led to a massive taxpayer bailout for Wall Street. Lehman's failure also set off years of litigation with creditors and counterparties, not to mention devastating losses for shareholders and employees.
Fuld has blamed his company's demise on factors ranging from short sellers to the federal government.
On Thursday he again defended his decision-making, saying it was based on the information he had at the time. He also suggested a lack of liquidity was the true culprit behind Lehman's demise: "You have to have enough liquidity to ride out the storm. Been there. Done that. No comment."...
For full story:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/05/28/lehman-bros-fuld-idUKL1N0YJ1ZU20150528
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Former Lehman Brothers CEO Breaks Silence
May 28, 2015 | CNBC
Former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld speaks for the first time since the collapse back in 2008. CNBC's Kate Kelly reports.
For video:
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000383768&play=1
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Lehman’s Fuld, 7 Years Later, Says ‘Perfect Storm’ Caused Crisis
May 28, 2015 | The Wall Street Journal - MoneyBeat
By Maureen Farrell and Stephanie Yang
Richard Fuld Jr., the man at the helm of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. when it collapsed in 2008, said a “perfect storm” of events caused the financial crisis.
Among the contributing factors Mr. Fuld listed Thursday were government officials who pushed for lower home-lending standards and homeowners who used their equity on their homes “as ATM accounts.”
“It’s not just a one single thing, it’s all these things taken together,” he said.
His comments came at the 2015 Marcum MicroCap Conference in midtown New York, where he was giving the keynote luncheon address–his first such appearance since Lehman filed for bankruptcy. The first minutes of his remarks were broadcast live on CNBC, complete with the clinking of the silverware in the background.
Mr. Fuld has kept a low profile since leaving Lehman Brothers. Most of his public remarks since then have been before lawmakers in Washington. He joked Thursday that he didn’t count “my wonderful time with Congress” as a speaking engagement.
He started his remarks with a brief discussion of Lehman’s culture and its compensation practices, which he said fostered a sense of teamwork. Then he discussed the fall of Lehman and took the audience on a whirlwind tour of the easy-money policies that led its demise.
“Regardless of what you heard about Lehman’s risk management, we had 27,000 risk managers because they all had a piece of the firm,” he said.
And he defended the bank’s capital structure when it was “mandated into bankruptcy” saying its equity capital was $28 billion.
Roughly seven months after Lehman’s collapse, Mr. Fuld launched Matrix Advisors LLC, a small strategic advisory firm. David Karlin, a managing director at Matrix, said Thursday the firm currently has about a dozen active clients in a wide range of industries, and the companies it advises typically are valued at less than $250 million.
In October, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Fuld advised a little-known company called OpenMatch Holdings LLC in its acquisition of the 130-year-old National Stock Exchange. Other clients of Matrix have included Ecologic Transportation Inc.PTSS -15.79% and GlyEco Inc.GLYE +20.00%, according to regulatory filings.
Mr. Karlin said Matrix has 11 full-time employees.
Nicknamed the “gorilla” for his management style, Mr. Fuld spent his entire career through 2008 at Lehman, joining the bank after graduating from the University of Colorado in 1967. He started off as a trader with a focus on corporate debt.
Mr. Fuld said “not a day goes by” when he doesn’t think about Lehman, but said it was time for him to move on. Or as he put it: “Time for me to raise my ugly head.”
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Ex-Lehman CEO Blames Variety of Factors For Collapse
May 28, 2015 | AP (in CNBC)
In his first public remarks since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, former CEO Richard Fuld said no single factor caused the 2008 financial crisis that destroyed Lehman.
Fuld said Lehman Brothers "was all about team" and put clients first. He added that because every employee owned stock in the company, they were all focused on the good of Lehman Brothers.
"Regardless of what you heard about Lehman Brothers' risk management, I had 27,000 risk managers because they all owned a piece of the firm," he said. Fuld, 69, was the keynote speaker Thursday at the Marcum MicroCap Conference in New York.
Lehman Brothers was more than 150 years old when it collapsed in September 2008 in the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. Its failure was seen as a key trigger in the financial crisis. After Lehman imploded, inquiries showed that the company used accounting tricks to mask $50 billion in debt, making it look like Lehman was in better shape than it really was. Fuld blamed the financial crisis on a "perfect storm" of events, but said it began with the federal government pushing to make home ownership available to unqualified buyers...
For full story:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102715498
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Lehman's Fuld: No One Thing Caused the Crisis
May 28, 2015 | CNBC
By Evelyn Cheng
The government's push to expand home ownership and an environment of easy credit helped produce the financial crisis among a variety of other factors, former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld—once the face of the crisis—said Thursday.
Fuld, in his first public remarks since Lehman's collapse, also told the Marcum MicroCap Conference in New York that the strength of Lehman was its shared ownership.
"Regardless of what you heard of Lehman Brothers' risk management, I had 27,000 risk managers because they all owned a piece of the firm," he said.
While Fuld's appearance was widely anticipated, not everyone who attended the conference was happy to see him. Keith McGee, a vice president at Midwest Energy Emissions, left halfway through the speech. "I'm not interested in a guy in the middle of the credit crisis pretending he wasn't," he said.
Richard S. Fuld, Jr., 69, was chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers from 1994 until the investment bank declared the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history during the financial crisis in 2008. He joined the firm in 1969.
Congress questioned Fuld on his oversight of a company caught in the thick in the subprime mortgage crisis. The former CEO escaped prosecution and has since remained out of Wall Street's spotlight.
At the outset of his remarks, which he said were his first public comments since 2008, he acknowledged that testimony with a smile.
"I don't include my wonderful time with Congress as a public event," Fuld said to laughs.
In September 2008 "Lehman Brothers… was not a bankrupt company," Fuld said. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about Lehman Brothers," Fuld said.
"I do have to move on."
Less than a year after Lehman's collapse, Fuld launched a small advisory firm called Matrix Advisors, which recently launched a real estate brokerage arm.
Last October, reports said Fuld was advising a deal to acquire National Stock Exchange. The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission approved its sale to a new entity called National Stock Exchange Holdings in late February.
Fuld and representatives from Suzhou Kaida Venture Capital announced at a November press conference in Beijing that they would establish a "green channel" for Chinese firms to make initial public offerings in the United States, Chinese media said...
For full story:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102712411
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Lehman Brothers' Former CEO Blames Bad Regulations For Bank's Collapse
May 28, 2015 | The Guardian (UK)
By Simon Bowers
Dick Fuld, the chief executive who led Lehman Brothers to the largest corporate collapse in modern times, has defended the failed investment bank’s culture, insisting that it was a victim of wider market excesses and regulatory failings in his first public speech since the banking crash of 2008.
“It was all about team,” he told a conference in New York. “My people were in it together – and our clients knew it. There was no ... ‘It’s my account,’ no ‘I’m a star, so pay me.’”
Fuld, who was paid $485m (£317m) in salary, bonuses and options between 2000 and 2007, also attempted to respond to criticisms that Lehman had not been good at assessing risks. “Regardless of what you heard of Lehman Brothers’ risk management, I had 27,000 risk managers, because they all owned a piece of the firm,” he said, explaining that staff had owned more than 30% of the bank’s stock.
In the final months before the demise of Lehman, Fuld said the bank had been furiously attacked by hedge funds that were short-selling the firm’s stock – effectively betting that it would decline in value. “I will hurt the shorts, and that is my goal,” he raged, five months before the bank came crashing down.
The bank’s failure sent shockwaves around the global economy and, in its wake, Fuld was summoned to appear before Congress for what turned out to be a bruising encounter.
Referring to Fuld’s pay, the chairman of the House oversight committee, Henry Waxman, said: “You made all this money taking risks with other people’s money.”
Fuld told the Congress members: “Not that anyone on this committee cares about this, but I wake up every single night wondering, ‘What could I have done differently?’ This is a pain that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
In early 2008, short-sellers believed the bank was vulnerable, in large part due to its exposure to complex credit products it had built, known as collateralised debt obligations, or CDOs. Critics have suggested such products were an important contributor to the debt bubble.
At the conference on Thursday, however, Fuld threw a different light on the causes of Lehman Brothers’ downfall. The crash, he said, “started with the government. The government pushed for non-qualified home ownership. The government clearly ... wanted everybody to fulfil their view of the American dream.” To this point he added the aggravating factors of low interest rates and easy access to credit for homeowners. Credit bubble indicators were also plain to see, he suggested, in ballooning growth in GDP and in the private equity and hedge fund sectors...
For full story:
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/28/lehman-brothers-former-ceo-blames-bad-regulations-for-banks-collapse
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I Have No Regrets, Says Lehman Boss
May 29, 2015 | The Times (UK)
By Joanna Walters
The former boss of Lehman Brothers broke cover for his first voluntary public outing since the 2008 global financial crisis by telling a financial conference in New York yesterday that he had “no regrets” about what happened.
Dick Fuld, who was vilified over the collapse of Lehman, blamed regulators, borrowers and the government for the 158-year-old bank’s implosion under debts of $619 billion in a lunchtime speech to a finance conference at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Manhattan.
In attempting to explain the 2008 crisis, he rolled out a list of factors that included banks “having too much leverage”, a...
Subscription needed for full story:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/banking/article4454500.ece
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Dick Fuld: 'Lehman Was Not A Bankrupt Company'
May 28, 2015 | Fortune
By Stephen Gandel
In a speech at an investment conference, Lehman Brothers’ former CEO said his firm wasn’t broke, but that he has many regrets.
When it comes to the financial crisis, the gorilla still seems to be in the mist.
Dick Fuld, the former CEO of Lehman Brothers, whose large forehead and demeanor has led people over the years to compare him to a primate, has ticked off a number of reasons for the banking disaster that led to the Great Recession, among them include the government, reckless borrowers, aggressive investors and poor regulation. Curiously missing from Fuld’s financial crisis blame game: His own firm.
In fact, on Thursday, Fuld sought to refute the notion that his firm was in trouble in late 2008. He said the company had $28 billion in assets, and $127 billion in available capital. “Lehman was not a bankrupt company,” he said.
Fuld defended his former firm at an investment conference on Thursday in midtown Manhattan. It was Fuld’s first public comments since he testified in front of Congress shortly after Lehman failed. Fuld said he hadn’t come to talk about Lehman, but he clearly still seems upset his firm had failed and harbors plenty of regrets. At times during his talk he seemed to be in pain, taking deep breaths before discussing Lehman.
“You don’t have the time to hear all the things I would do differently,” said Fuld. The former top banker admitted he made a number of mistakes as the head of Lehman, from decisions about the people he picked to run the firm to “the government’s role, or what I thought it was.”
Fuld didn’t elaborate, but the comment seemed like a jab at Erin Callan, the former Lehman CFO, who many people have said wasn’t up to the job. Fuld fired Callan and Lehman COO Joseph Gregory a few months before the firm went under. (Read Fortune’s The Fall of a Highflier for more.) Some have said that Fuld was surprised that the government didn’t bail Lehman out in the end...
For full story:
https://fortune.com/2015/05/28/dick-fuld-lehman-brothers/
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Ex-Lehman CEO Fuld Emerges After 7 Years
May 29, 2015 | CNBC
The former Lehman CEO, speaking publicly for the first time since 2008, addressed the 'perfect storm' that led to the crisis.
For video:
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000383744&play=1
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Lehman Brothers Ex-CEO Blames Everyone Else For Financial Crisis
May 29, 2015 | Politico
By Nick Gass
In his first public speech since the 2008 financial crisis, former Lehman Brothers chairman and CEO Richard “Dick” Fuld, famed for his brash, hard-charging style, was unapologetic about his firm’s role in the economic calamity that nearly brought the global economy to a standstill.
“It’s not just one single thing. It’s all these things taken together. I refer to it as the perfect storm,” Fuld said, speaking before the Marcum MicroCap Conference in New York on Thursday.
“I had 27,000 risk managers because all employees owned a piece of the firm,” he said, though he did not specifically address the firm’s bankruptcy — whose suddenness froze global markets and sent the U.S. economy into a tailspin from which it is still recovering.
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Fuld said that the company’s culture was part of its success, calling Lehman Brothers “one of the great investment banks on Wall Street.”
“Government clearly had the view that they wanted everybody to be able to fulfill their view of the American dream,” he said, noting low interest rates and easy access to credit, which led to increased home values and household debts.
Lehman Brothers “at the end of September 2008 was not a bankrupt company,” he said...
For full story:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/richard-dick-fuld-lehman-brothers-financial-crisis-118374.html
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Life After Lehman Brothers: Dick Fuld’s Murky Investment Secrets
May 28, 2015 | Fox Business News
By Charlie Gasparino
Since his inglorious exit as chief executive of Lehman Brothers in 2008, Dick Fuld has preferred to keep a low public profile. But nearly from the moment the storied investment bank filed for bankruptcy, Fuld has been planning, albeit quietly, a comeback as a dealmaker.
It might sound like pure hubris that the man many people blame for the downfall of what was then the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, the triggering event for the broader financial crisis, also believes he should have a second chance on Wall Street.
But the notion isn’t crazy – at least to Fuld.
During his long career, nearly all of which he spent at Lehman, Fuld was known as “The Gorilla” for his tough demeanor and endless drive to make the firm among Wall Street’s top investment banks -- which it was, at least until its fall.
Now, at 69 years old, Fuld is laying the groundwork for his return to the business that made him both wealthy and seen by some as a public pariah.
In 2009 he rented an office in midtown Manhattan, created a boutique investment firm he named Matrix Advisors, and together with a handful of staffers, Fuld was once again pitching deals using the Rolodex of contacts he gleaned during his long career. More on this... Dick Fuld makes first appearance since Lehman collapse Life after Lehman: Dick Fuld’s murky investment secrets
One of his first deals—and possibly the biggest for Fuld since leaving Lehman-- involved an insurance company called “In The Car.”
The concept was simple: When partnered with an insurance provider and an automobile manufacturer, In The Car would offer a new type of incentive plan to consumers. Instead of cash or favorable financing terms, consumers would get a year of free auto insurance with every car purchase.
Some investors presented with the idea thought it was farfetched. They questioned why a car company would want to offer free insurance instead of a simple cash rebate to entice buyers.
But others didn’t think the idea was so outlandish, and by 2011, In The Car started to take off. Fuld and the company’s CEO, Robert Wallach, an insurance executive he had known for nearly 30 years, convinced insurance giant MetLife (MET) and car manufacturer General Motors (GM) to take part in a pilot program in two states. GM would sell the cars through its dealers, while MetLife agreed to provide the insurance policy.
Of course, no investment is guaranteed, but the way Wallach and Fuld explained In The Car to investors, it was as close to a sure thing as you can get on Wall Street, several investors told FOX Business. And the company’s new partners seemed ready to agree: GM, under pressure to sell cars after receiving a government bailout to survive the recession, believed it could buy the insurance from MetLife at a wholesale price and easily earn a decent profit based on the volume of cars sold, people at the company said at the time.
MetLife had no problem giving GM such a discount since it would have access to GM’s large consumer base for future sales, people at MetLife said. Moreover, car buyers, hurting from the economic slowdown from the financial crisis, would have gotten a break on one of their biggest expenses, buying insurance.
In The Car, meanwhile, would earn fees and commissions for every car sold. Based on Wallach’s projections of sales, the company was worth $20 million – a valuation that was touted to raise millions of dollars from investors, according to people who were pitched the deal. Eventually other investors came to believe that the company was worth as much as $50 million, people close to the company said.
But today In The Car is anything but a success story.
Both MetLife and GM were out of the pilot program in the fall of 2011 after just two months when GM determined that other incentive programs proved more efficient in promoting car sales.
New management replaced Wallach as CEO; the new chief, Sanford Rich, said based on his investigation, he believed that Wallach misused millions of dollars of investor cash both to pay his own salary and make whole original investors in the company with money he raised from a group of new investors.
Wallach, for his part, denied he misused the funds, but agreed with almost everyone else involved in the company that In The Car has never lived up to its advanced billing.
According to some investors, In The Car is virtually worthless, having been recently valued at just $500,000.
When Money Gets Personal
The travails of In The Car go beyond money. Wilmington, Del. businessman Tom Smith, a former Morgan Stanley (MS) executive, told people his wife lost her $650,000 investment in the outfit as a result of mismanagement of the company’s finances. People who know him said he blamed both Fuld and Wallach among others for hyping In The Car’s prospects for success.
On May 3, Smith’s wife Lindsay Smith reported her husband missing after he failed to return cell phone calls and text messages. It had been a rough couple of weeks for Tom Smith; he grew increasingly agitated that his wife’s money would never be recovered, she confirmed. He told people associated with the company that he believed a fraud had taken place and that they should refer the case to securities regulators, his wife also confirmed to FBN. And some investors blamed him for alerting FBN to the company’s problems. Those arguments turned ugly; one of the investors threatened to sue Smith, his wife said.
On May 4, police told Lindsay that they found her husband dead at a local construction site. He had hanged himself. Tom Smith was 57.
Shining Light on Fuld Post-Lehman
Wallach, for his part, denies that he did anything wrong in selling the concept to investors and insists that his salary, expenses and use of investor cash was approved by the company’s general counsel and board. He left the company at the end of 2011, and he blames current management for In The Car’s sad state of affairs.
“Based on a round of financing, it was worth $50 million when I was there; now it’s worth next to zero,” Wallach told FBN. “That should tell you something.”
Fuld and his attorney declined numerous requests for comment. His attorney also did not respond to a detailed email about this report.
Fuld remains an investor in In The Car and is in regular contact with current management, according to the latest CEO of the company, Jasper Jackson.
The messy details surrounding In The Car and Fuld’s involvement in the troubled company have not been reported until now. But they shed more light on his post-Lehman career as a dealmaker, and how one of the key figures in the financial crisis has fared now that he is no longer Wall Street royalty.
It hasn’t been easy.
Fuld’s brokerage record shows that civil regulatory investigations involving his role in Lehman’s demise, as well as a number of civil lawsuits filed by investors remain “pending” more than six years after the firm’s collapse. Far from the big deals that he managed as Lehman’s CEO, Fuld has worked mostly on the fringes of Wall Street in recent years.
For a time, he was affiliated with a company called Legend Securities, which focuses on lightly regulated micro-cap companies also known as “penny stocks.” He left Legend at the end of 2011, records show, though he continues to list Matrix as his principle place of employment.
Of the deals he has done, the vast majority wouldn’t be handled by Lehman or any other major Wall Street firm; they consist of tiny financings, such as the sale of the National Stock Exchange, and more speculative ventures like In The Car, which could complicate Fuld’s efforts to repair his reputation as the memory of the 2008 financial crisis fades.
Indeed, friends say Fuld privately bristles at the popular post-financial crisis narrative that the decision to invest in risky real estate deals while he was CEO was the sole cause of Lehman’s collapse. Instead Fuld takes pride in the fact that during his 40-year career, all of it at Lehman, he built the bank into a Wall Street powerhouse.
He believes staunchly that Lehman’s collapse wasn’t the mistake of one man, but the result of a short-term panic that engulfed the entire financial system, friends said...
For full story:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/2015/05/27/life-after-lehman-fulds-murky-investment-secret/
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Dick Fuld, Disgraced Former CEO Of Lehman Brothers, Makes Bizarre Comeback
May 28, 2015 | The Huffington Post
By Ben Walsh
Dick Fuld, part villain and part unforgivably very confused bystander to the financial crisis in the eyes of most -- and a victim of the financial crisis to himself -- made a bizarre comeback at a conference in New York on Thursday.
In his first public appearance (other than sworn congressional testimony) since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Fuld blamed regulators, borrowers and rumors for the end of the 158-year-old, $47 billion firm he led. It was a “perfect storm” that sank Lehman, not his own leadership or decisions, Fuld said, while touting Lehman’s “success” to the audience. He also claimed that every one of the 27,000 employees who once worked for Lehman had been a risk manager, because they owned stock in the firm.
Lehman’s September 2008 collapse was the first of many bank failures and market seizures that fall. It sparked the financial crisis that ended in a $416 billion bank bailout and left the country mired in the Great Recession.
Fuld's comments were initially carried live on the financial news network CNBC, but the feed was pulled by conference organizers part way through his remarks. Technically, Fuld was at the conference to deliver a keynote address titled, "How Emerging Growth Companies Can Succeed in Today's Capital Markets: Perspectives from My Journey." His comments, however, were a well-rehearsed if less-than-convincing defense of his own actions leading up to the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
He denied that Lehman was a failed company in September 2008 and intimated that he and the firm were victims of a conspiracy centered around former competitors in regulatory positions with a vendetta against him. Fuld, nicknamed the “Gorilla” during his career for his overly aggressive style, seemed temperamentally unchanged, telling one conference questioner, “Why don’t you bite me?”...
For full story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/28/dick-fuld-lehman_n_7462196.html
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May 28, 2015 | International Business Times
By Owen Davis
Richard Fuld, former CEO of Lehman Brothers, sounded at turns defensive and contemplative in his first public comments since his bank folded in 2008, helping to set off the financial crisis.
"I thought it was time," said Fuld, who has kept a low public profile since then. "Time for me to raise my ugly head."
In his prepared statement Thursday, the former Wall Street mogul said it wasn't one firm that caused the crisis but a "perfect storm" of factors, beginning with government housing policy that lowered lending standards. He praised the compensation system that gave employees ownership of Lehman stock, remarking that the firm had "27,000 risk managers because they all owned a piece of the firm."
Nicknamed the "Gorilla" of Wall Street, Fuld oversaw Lehman's ill-fated plunge into subprime mortgages, which blew up spectacularly in 2008.
But in his remarks, delivered at the 2015 Marcum MicroCap Conference in New York, Fuld defended the bank's financials at the time of its collapse. "Lehman Brothers in September 2008 was not a bankrupt company," he said.
His defenses of Lehman were met with skepticism on social media.
In congressional hearings held in the wake of the financial crisis, Fuld weathered biting scorn and complaints from senators over his $500 million pay package. His speaking fee for Thursday's conference, which he said amounted to five figures, went to the nonprofit Harlem Children's Zone...
For full story:
http://www.ibtimes.com/dick-fuld-former-ceo-failed-bank-lehman-brothers-speaks-publicly-first-time-financial-1942408
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Fuld Defends Lehman During First Public Appearance Since 2008 Bankruptcy
May 28, 2015 | The DC
By Emmakristina Sveen
At the Marcum Microcap Investment Conference in Manhattan on Thursday, former Lehman Brothers CEO, Richard “Dick” Fuld, Jr., appeared publicly to speak for the first time since filing for bankruptcy in 2008.
Fuld — the presiding executive at the time of Lehman Brothers infamous 2008 collapse — spoke to numerous factors that could have potentially sparked the Great Recession: “the government, reckless borrowers, aggressive investors, and poor regulation” were among the few.
Among these possible contributors, Fuld failed to mention his former firm...
For full story:
http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/28/fuld-defends-lehman-during-first-public-appearance-since-2008-bankruptcy/
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Ex-Lehman CEO: 'Why Don't You Bite Me?'
May 28, 2015 | Business Insider
By Jonathan Marino, Linette Lopez, and Julia La Roche
Former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld is making his first public speech since the demise of Lehman in September 2008.
Before its bankruptcy, Lehman Brothers was the fourth largest Wall Street bank.
Fuld, who had been CEO since 1994, delivered the keynote address at the Marcum MicroCap Conference in Midtown Manhattan.
During the Q&A he was asked why he didn't just "ride into the sunset."
Fuld responded in jest, "why don't you bite me?"
Then he went on to say, seriously, "I didn't think I had a choice."
It's unclear what exactly that means, but it is clear that Fuld has something of a sense of humor. 'Lehman was not bankrupt'
During the Q&A, Fuld was asked to discuss his most triumphant versus his most challenging moments at Lehman.
"September 2008, we lost the firm," he said. "In 94, the most challenging piece was getting my team together. How do we get people to drop their weapons, play together?...the challenge wasn't a moment–It was an evolution."
Fuld continued: "You don't have time to hear about all the things I'd have done differently."
The moderator then summoned the audience to clap Fuld into disclosure, which he did.
"Hindsight is 20-20. There is no if we, woulda, coulda, shoulda."
"I was blessed with a terrific team, for the most part. We were in it together," he said. "It's wonderful for me to talk about the culture...But then, you have the right to ask me 'then, OK, if it was so great, what happened at the end?'"
Fuld said that Lehman had a "mandated bankruptcy." At that point he sounded a little defensive, saying that Lehman had unencumbered collateral of $127 billion and equity capital of $28 billion.
"I have always said, and now it's being proven, Lehman Brothers in September 2008 was not bankrupt." Culture was the 'real success'
Before the Q&A session, Fuld told the crowd that "Lehman was one of the great Wall Street banks," touting the firm's culture as its "real success."
That isn't how he and his firm have been painted in the public eye, however. Fuld was one of the major characters blamed for the mortgage crisis.
By his estimation, though, the financial crisis was caused by a "perfect storm" of easy credit that started with the government's desire to have "everybody... be able to fulfill their view of the American dream."
"I had 27,000 risk managers because all employees owned a piece of the firm," Fuld said.
"There's so much I'd love to say. Enough said on that. Time to move on. "
There has been speculation on Wall Street that Fuld was re-entering public life because he wants to start a new firm, but he didn't talk about any future plans at Marcum.
Fuld did talk about the state of America, though.
"Why has the belly of America been ripped out," he asked the crowd. "The guys that need it can't get funded," he said, but corporates are taking on debt, hoarding liquidity and not spending on capex.
Fuld also sounded concerned about income inequality: "Capitalism only works if it starts at the top and filters down."
Perhaps the most interesting part of the talk, though, was how he waxed philosophical about Lehman before he was CEO — or rather, what Lehman used to be...
For full story:
http://www.businessinsider.com/rich-fuld-speech-2015-5
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Ex-Lehman CEO Dick Fuld: At Least My Mom Still Loves Me
May 28, 2015 | CNN Money
By Matt Egan
As the disgraced former CEO of Lehman Brothers, he had just presided over the largest bankruptcy in American history. Fuld quickly became the poster child for the reckless risk taking that fueled the Wall Street meltdown and Great Recession.
Since the financial crisis Fuld has largely stayed silent -- until Thursday when he decided it was "time for me to raise my ugly head."
"Not a day goes by that I don't think about Lehman Brothers," Fuld said at a conference in Manhattan.
Fuld alluded to how unpopular he is, but he downplayed how much the criticism impacts him.
"My motto is: That was then, this is now," Fuld said. He added: "My mother still loves me. She's 96."
Fuld is something of a toxic asset on Wall Street, not unlike the ones Lehman bet on that caused the bank to collapse. Fuld has not been hired by any big firms and has been the subject of countless lawsuits, including a shareholder suit he and other Lehman execs paid $90 million to settle in 2011. On Thursday, he received modest applause from the crowd of mostly financial professionals.
Related: More bankers OK with breaking the law to get ahead
Fuld's comeback effort: Fuld's comments marked his first public remarks since being grilled by investigators on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in 2010. After years of silence, he is trying to make a comeback of sorts. He took the opportunity to talk up the work of Matrix Advisors, the consulting firm he founded in 2009.
Fuld, who built and lost a $1 billion fortune on Wall Street, said he didn't think he "had a choice" other than to try to get back into finance.
Sarcastically asked by the moderator why he didn't ride into the sunset after presiding over the epic Lehman failure, Fuld replied: "Why don't you bite me?"
'Perfect storm': If he could, Fuld said there are many things he'd do differently over his final year at the helm of Lehman.
"You have to have enough liquidity to ride out the storm. I've been there, done that," he said.
During the crisis, Lehman and other big banks were stuck with too many "illiquid" assets, meaning ones they could not buy or sell quickly enough to meet other obligations.
"It's very easy to look back...I missed the violence of the market and how it spread from one asset class to the next," Fuld said.
He described a "perfect storm" and "self-fulfilling negative loop" that drove financial panic, including an explosion of debt and financial products and lax regulation.
Related: Jamie Dimon lashes out at 'lazy' shareholders
Is the American Dream to blame? Yet in many ways Fuld remains in denial about Lehman's final days, reiterating his belief that the bank was the victim of nefarious forces. It was not a truly bankrupt company, he said.
"Did we try to do everything we possibly could? Yes. Did we fall prey to other agendas? I'll leave it at that," he said.
Like many, the ex-Lehman chief believes the 2008 crisis was started by a confluences of forces. Fuld said it's important to focus on the "buildup" to the housing bubble, which he believes started with the government's very aggressive push to increase homeownership.
"They wanted everyone to fulfill their view of the American Dream," Fuld said.
Penny stocks? Given his infamous role in the 2008 financial crisis, Fuld chose an ironic venue to start a comeback tour: A conference for what are essentially penny stocks.
Fuld spoke -- without receiving a fee -- at the Marcum Microcap Conference, an annual event for publicly-traded companies valued at less than $500 million. (Marcum said it made a donation to a charity instead of paying Fuld.)...
For full story:
http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/28/investing/lehman-brothers-ceo-dick-fuld-comeback-attempt/
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Ex-Lehman CEO Dick Fuld: Everyone to Blame For Collapse Except Me
May 28, 2015 | NY Post
By Kevin Dugan
Dick Fuld spent seven years in exile but is far from contrite.
The former bank chieftain, who has been a public outcast since he led Lehman Brothers to its demise seven years ago, said Thursday a “perfect storm” of events caused the financial crisis.
Fuld, known as the Gorilla of Wall Street for his competitive streak, blamed a “self-fulfilling negative loop” of politicians who pushed looser lending standards, homeowners who used their homes “like an ATM” and regulators who “mandated” the firm’s bankruptcy.
“There was very little regulation and market supervision, and lower credit standards,” he said at a conference in Manhattan.
Fuld’s public comments mark the first time the former Lehman CEO has raised his “ugly head” — as he put it — since the bank collapsed in 2008. He jokingly said his “wonderful time with Congress,” when he was hauled before lawmakers and grilled over the firm’s collapse, didn’t count.
Fuld, who reaped an estimated $500 million during his tenure as CEO, sidestepped his role in the crisis while suggesting Lehman’s employees — most of whom lost their jobs — shared in managing the firm’s risk.
“Regardless of what you heard of Lehman Brothers’ risk management, I had 27,000 risk managers, because they all owned a piece of the firm,” he said.
Fuld only obliquely addressed Lehman’s record-setting bankruptcy during his keynote speech at a penny-stock conference in Midtown Manhattan.
“Please understand not a day goes by where I don’t think about Lehman Brothers,” he told the audience.
Still, the speech suggested his thinking hasn’t changed much since Sept. 15, 2008, when he led Lehman into the largest bankruptcy in history and set off a domino effect across global financial markets.
“Like many of those atop the more vulnerable financial institutions in the summer of 2008, Fuld seemed to think that he was a victim and our job was to save him from an unfair world,” former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner wrote in his 2014 account of the financial crisis, “Stress Test.”
Fuld, 69, spent several years as a Wall Street pariah holed up at his compound in Sun Valley, Idaho, before launching his own consulting firm, Matrix Advisors...
For full story:
http://nypost.com/2015/05/28/ex-lehman-ceo-dick-fuld-everyone-to-blame-for-collapse-except-me/
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Richard Fuld Has No Regrets over Lehman Brothers’ Resounding Collapse
May 29, 2015 | Trinity News Daily
By Jac Hardy
Richard Fuld, the former chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers nominated by the Time magazine as one of the 25 people to blame for the 2008 financial crisis, said in a recent public appearance that he had nothing to do with the collapse of the fourth-largest investment bank in the U.S.
Lehman Brothers Holdings’ filing for bankruptcy protection in 2008, which was the by far the largest in the country, is believed to have played a critical role in the recent financial crisis.
But Mr. Fuld, 69, said the crisis was triggered by government and Federal Reserve’s policies and irresponsible borrowers. The former banker declined to take any responsibility whatsoever.
When one of the reporters asked him why he didn’t just retire after the 2008 collapse, he replied, “Why don’t you just bite me?” He said that he had “no choice” but to give it another shot with his own consulting company Matrix Advisors LLC.
Mr. Fuld has kept a low profile since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, so this week’s appearance at the 2015 Marcum MicroCap Conference in NYC was the first public speech he has delivered in seven years.
He said that he didn’t count the times he appeared before Congress to testify in 2008 as public appearances. Back then, the members of the panel that was investigating Lehman Brothers collapse deemed him “villain” since he showed no remorse. Mr. Fuld’s reluctance to admit that he did something wrong shocked many in Congress.
This week, Mr. Fuld said again that he had “no regrets.” He went on to put the blame on the government and its policy to help people obtain cheap loans for their homes, lax legislation, hedge fund owners and homeowners with a reckless attitude towards their own finances. He called the mix a “perfect storm” which led to the financial meltdown.
He also said he had no qualms about the collapse because he tried everything in his powers to save the financial giant. He also said that Lehman was not bankrupt seven years ago, but he declined to go into more detail about the statement...
For full story:
http://www.trinitynewsdaily.com/richard-fuld-has-no-regrets-over-lehman-brothers-resounding-collapse-2/2273/
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Ex-Lehman Boss To Launch Stock Exchange This Summer
May 28, 2015 | USA Today
By Kaja Whitehouse
Former Lehman Bros. chief Dick Fuld spoke publicly for the first time on Thursday in part to pave the way for this summer's relaunch of the National Stock Exchange, which Fuld part owns.
The former Lehman chief took to a Manhattan hotel stage on Thursday because he is working on several "higher profile" projects that could soon thrust him into the limelight, including the exchange's relaunch "later this summer," David Karlin, Fuld's business partner, told USA TODAY.
Fuld is part-owner of the 130-year-old electronic National Stock Exchange, which handled only roughly 13 million shares - a minuscule 0.2% of all U.S. stock trading - before it shuttered last year. Fuld's new firm, Matrix Advisors, is not a shareholder, but it worked on the sale to new owners in a deal that closed in February, Karlin said.
"My mother still loves me," Fuld, 69, said in a sometime rambling speech at the Grand Hyatt in Midtown Manhattan, where he was invited to give the keynote address at a conference for companies valued at under $500 million.
Fuld has not spoken publicly since his 158-year-old brokerage and investment bank collapsed under a mountain of risky assets in 2008, and Fuld was called to testify before Congress and called a "villain." The bankruptcy, the biggest in history, catapulted Fuld from Wall Street honcho to central character in the mortgage meltdown that nearly took down Wall Street.
Thursday's appearance is part of Fuld's effort to claw his way back.
The speech, which took place over lunch, was filled with platitudes and veiled references to his downfall. He continued to blame Lehman's collapse on outside forces, including the government. Unlike Bear Stearns, Lehman was not saved by the U.S. government.
"Did we try to do everything we possibly could? Yes. Did we fall prey to some other agendas? I will leave it at that," he said at one point.
The speech also contained some humorous moments.
"I don't include my wonderful time with Congress a public event," he joked about his last public appearance.
Fuld took the stage on the understanding that he would not be asked about Lehman's darkest days. But an executive with accounting and advisory Marcum LLP, the conference's host, asked him about that time anyway. This led to some uncomfortable and poignant moments that had the audience riveted.
"Please understand. Not a day goes by where I don't think about Lehman Brothers. Not a day," Fuld said. But the Wall Street boss, who's tough-talking ways earned him the nickname "The Gorilla," also said he wants to "put it behind me."
"My motto is: That was then this is now," Fuld told the audience.
At one point, Fuld, who has been accused of allowing Lehman to take "excessive risk," rattled off an odd laundry list of lessons he's learned over the years. They included:
*"Do your homework and take smart risks."
*"You do not know what you do not know"
*"Enjoy the ride."
As USA TODAY reported Wednesday, Fuld took the spotlight at a time when he is also seeking to reclaim his role on Wall Street.
Fuld owns shares in the National Stock Exchange through two entities that collectively own a 36% stake: Thor Investment Holdings LLC, which owns 16%, and TIP-1 LLC, which owns 20%...
For full story:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/05/28/dick-fuld-lehman-brother-national-stock-exchange/28079427/
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CU Grad Dick Fuld, Ex-Lehman CEO, Speaks For First Time In Years, Looking Back On Crisis (Video)
May 28, 2015 | Denver Business Journal
By Mark Harden
Richard Fuld — onetime chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings and a poster child for the nation's financial meltdown — made his first public remarks in several years Thursday, speaking about the causes of the crisis and Lehman's collapse.
Fuld — a 69-year-old University of Colorado Boulder graduate who now runs advisory form Matrix Advisors — spoke at the Marcum MicroCap Conference in New York, saying it was "time for me to raise my ugly head."
He said it was his first public speaking event since 2008, not counting appearances before Congress.
He blamed a "perfect storm" that included the federal push to expand home ownership along with easy credit as factors behind the crisis, CNBC reports(with a clip of Feld's speech).
• In the video above, Thomas Stanton, author of “Why Some Firms Thrive,” appears on "Bloomberg Markets," offers analysis of Fuld's remarks.
Fuld earned a bachelor's degree in business from CU in 1969. He delivered CU-Boulder's spring commencement address in 2006...
For full story:
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2015/05/28/cu-grad-dick-fuld-ex-lehman-ceo-looks-back-on.html
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Former Lehman Chief Blames Crisis On 'Perfect Storm'
May 29, 2015 | Agence France-Presse (in ABS CBN News)
In his first public appearance since 2008, former Lehman Brothers chief Richard Fuld Thursday blamed the financial crisis on a "perfect storm" of factors.
Fuld, who has kept a low profile since his firm's failure in September 2008 helped set off the biggest financial firestorm since 1929, said at an investment conference that the crisis was the result "not just of one single thing."
"It's all these things taken together," he said, adding that government policies designed to boost home ownership had unintended consequences, such as swelling home prices that led many families to take on too much debt.
Fuld said Lehman's demise was a "mandated bankruptcy" and that Lehman "was not a bankrupt company."
At the same time, Fuld suggested he also bore some responsibility for his firm's fate.
"Did we fall prey to some other agendas?" he asked. "I'll leave it at that."
Fuld at times waxed nostalgic, as when he recounted Lehman growth into a powerhouse on Wall Street under the credo that "everything was about the client."...
For full story:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/05/29/15/former-lehman-chief-blames-crisis-perfect-storm
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'Fast Money' Recap: Lehman's Former CEO Dick Fuld Speaks, Chips Consolidate
May 28, 2015 | The Street
By Dawn Kawamoto
It's been seven years since Lehman Brothers collapsed in a $700 billion bankruptcy and became the poster child of the financial crisis. The CNBC 'Fast Money Halftime' trading panel weighed in on comments that its former CEO Dick Fuld made at micro cap conference as well as the consolidation in the chip industry following Avago Technologies' (AVGO) announced $37 billion buyout bid for Broadcom (BRCM).
Much of the 'Fast Money' show was devoted to Fuld's presentation at the Macrum MicroCap Conference in New York, where he would make his first public appearance since the dark days of the financial crisis. CNBC was able to briefly film his presentation live, before the event organizers took away the cameras.In discussing the fall of Lehman, Fuld told the attendees at the conference, "it was the perfect storm." He cited a number of events, including the government pushing home ownership through low interest rates, easy access to credit and a record number of mortgage re-financings as contributing to the environment that led to the demise of Lehman and other major financial institutions.
In assessing whether the industry has learned much since the dire days of 2008, 'Fast Money' guest speaker Larry McDonald, head of U.S. Macro Strategies at Societe Generale and former Lehman Brothers vice president, offered his perspective that maybe little has been learned from the financial crisis.
McDonald pointed to record levels of leveraged loans, high-yield bond and investment-grade bonds being issued in record amounts and LBOs being financed with a lot of debt.
"I wanted him to use his brand to tell the world where we are today versus 2007-2008," said McDonald, who authored the book "A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers."
Stephen Weiss, managing partner of Short Hills Capital Partners and a former Lehman Brothers employee who built its equity sales force, characterized Fuld as a good leader who instilled a culture where everyone felt they were rowing in the same direction and competed against other firms, not each other.
The panel also discussed semiconductor chips, following Avago's buyout offer for Broadcom, the largest chip merger on record.
"I look across the space and I still think they're cheap," said Pete Najarian, co-founder of optionmonster.com. "I think that when I look at valuations in the chip space, there is still plenty of upside for many of these names, especially those that fit well or are tied to Apple (AAPL)."
Some of the semiconductor companies that have risen since last week include Analog Devices (ADI - Get Report), Texas Instruments (TXN - Get Report) and Nvidia (NVDA - Get Report).
His brother Jon Najarian, co-founder of optionmonster.com, also likes the semiconductor sector and invested in Broadcom when it was trading around $25 a share. At that time, he believed the stock would ultimately reach the $55 to $65 level.
Weiss is a fan of Micron Technologies (MU - Get Report). "It's pretty compelling at these valuation levels. Everybody hates it," Weiss said...For full story:
http://www.thestreet.com/story/13167270/1/fast-money-recap-lehmans-former-ceo-dick-fuld-speaks-chips-consolidate.html
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Dick Fuld Not Done Just Yet – Ex Lehman CEO To Launch New Stock Exchange
May 29, 2015 | LeapRate
By Mike Fox
Multiple media sources including USA Today have reported on ex-Lehman Brothers boss Dick Fuld, who finally broke his silence 7 years after the collapse of the investment banking giant. Kaja Whitehouse of USA Today reported today that former Lehman Bros. chief Dick Fuld spoke publicly for the first time since the 2008 collapse on Thursday in part to pave the way for this summer’s relaunch of the National Stock Exchange, which Fuld partly owns.
Highlights:
– The 69 year-old Fuld had not spoken publicly since the 158-year-old brokerage and investment bank collapsed under a mountain of risky assets in 2008.
– Fuld is part-owner of the 130-year-old electronic National Stock Exchange, which handled only roughly 13 million shares – a minuscule 0.2% of all U.S. stock trading. The exchange was shuttered last year but is now set to relaunch.
– Mr. Fuld owns shares in the National Stock Exchange through two entities that collectively own a 36% stake: Thor Investment Holdings LLC, which owns 16%, and TIP-1 LLC, which owns 20%.
– In 2009 Mr. Fuld founded Matrix Advisors, a mergers and acquisitions consulting firm based in midtown Manhattan. Plans for the firm as reported by USA Today now include opening a licensed real estate brokerage, Matrix RE Brokerage LLC.
Mr. Fuld remains somewhat defiant and blames a myriad of actors for the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Naturally not all were so happy to see the re-emergence of the ex-Lehman chief, the Financial Times got a few quotes surrounding his public appearance...
For full story:
http://leaprate.com/2015/05/dick-fuld-not-done-just-yet-ex-lehman-ceo-to-launch-new-stock-exchange/
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