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Lehman Jun 5

    Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel

    Dick Fuld

  1. Opinion: 10 Reasons We Should All Feel Sorry For Lehman’s CEO Dick Fuld

    Jun 4, 2015 | MarketWatch

    By Brett Arends

    Can everyone stop being so mean to Dick Fuld, the former chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers? The man whose investment bank helped bring down the global economy in 2008 spoke out last week at a conference in Manhattan and defended his record. Everyone’s been piling on him since.

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    Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel

    Dick Fuld

  1. Opinion: 10 Reasons We Should All Feel Sorry For Lehman’s CEO Dick Fuld

    Jun 4, 2015 | MarketWatch

    By Brett Arends

    Can everyone stop being so mean to Dick Fuld, the former chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers?

    The man whose investment bank helped bring down the global economy in 2008 spoke out last week at a conference in Manhattan and defended his record. Everyone’s been piling on him since.

    But you know what? Fuld is right. We should feel sorry for this guy. Everyone is being so unfair.

    Why? Here are 10 good reasons.

    1. It wasn’t all his fault! By the time Lehman Brothers collapsed owing billions of dollars, Fuld had only been the chairman of the board for 15 years, and the chief executive officer for 14 years. He’d barely gotten his building pass and worked out the way to the executive washroom, for Pete’s sake! How can the bank’s implosion be all his fault?

    2. He only walked away with half a billion dollars! According to a detailed study of Lehman’s public filings, published in 2010 by three Harvard Law School professors, in the years leading up to the collapse Fuld pocketed $460 million by selling Lehman Brothers stock and options, and another $60 million in cash bonuses, for a grand total of $520 million. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get by on just half a billion dollars these days?

    3. He had to pay tax on that money! Some of those profits were taxed under capital gains rates at 10% — nearly as much as some schmuck busing tables in TGI Friday’s. And other gains were taxed like ordinary income, up to 40%. Can you believe that? Fuld having to pay taxes like some loser. And what does he get for the money, may we ask? When his bank just wants a little bailout, does the federal government help out?

    4. He lost money too! Everybody talks about the grandmas and ordinary schmucks who lost money when Lehman bought the farm. But nobody ever spares a thought for the guy at the top. According to that same Harvard study, Fuld could have made another $960 million if he’d sold all his other stock and options right at the peak, in early 2007. The guy missed out on another billion dollars! If that doesn’t deserve some compassion, what does?

    5. Only losers lost anyway. Remember, on Wall Street there is no right or wrong. There are only winners and losers. Fuld is a winner. Anyone who lost their savings in the financial crisis is, by definition, a loser. So why are you wasting time on them? Sheep are there to be shorn. Losers are there to lose. Anyway, statistics say about 9% of the U.S. adult population has committed a felony — about one person in eleven. So by the sheer force of numbers, a lot of the people who lost their jobs or life savings thanks to the Lehman Brothers collapse were bad people who probably deserved it anyway! What about that? We should be thanking Fuld, really.

    6. They’re just so mean! “Why don’t you just bite me?” Fuld asked one member of the audience, and who can blame him? How dare these people go after a Great American Hero like Fuld. Don’t you realize he isn’t just any Tom, Dick or Harry? He is one of the greatest Dicks in the history of Wall Street. Show a little respect, already.

    7. He got stiffed! Federal Election Commission filings show that over the years Fuld had given nearly $200,000 to political campaigns for Washington politicians. He’d given money to Democrats and to Republicans, from Chuck Schumer to George W. Bush. But when the time came, were they willing to help him? Noooooo. The man got totally stiffed. 8. It was just plain bad luck that Lehman Brothers collapsed! As Fuld said last week, it was just a “perfect storm” of outside events that brought down Lehman. Who could have foreseen that house prices wouldn’t keep doubling every five years?...

    For full story:

    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-reasons-we-should-all-feel-sorry-for-lehmans-ceo-dick-fuld-2015-06-04

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