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Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers

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I just heard a commentator on TV in the next cube over railing about Richard Fuld's testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today. Fuld was the CEO of Lehman Brothers. Fuld told Congress he takes "full responsibility for the decisions taht I made and for the actions that I took, based on the information that we had at the time."

Yeah, whatever. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland wondered "how he sleeps at night." Rep. Henry Waxman of California whacked Fuld around for making hundreds of millions at Lehman but claiming he and the others at Lehman were overwhelmed by circumstances. Fuld may not have helped himself with bits like this, from his prepared testimony:

In the end, despite all our efforts, we were overwhelmed, others were overwhelmed, and still other institutions would have been overwhelmed had the government not stepped in to save them. What happened to Lehman Brothers could have happened to any firm on Wall Street, and almost did happen to others. A litany of destabilizing factors: rumors, widening credit default swap spreads, naked short attacks, credit agency downgrades, a loss of confidence by clients and counterparties, and strategic buyers sitting on the sidelines waiting for an assisted deal were not only part of Lehman's story, but an all too familiar tale for many financial institutions. The fallout from these repeated onslaughts is what has caused the government to intervene to dramatically change the rules and provide substantial support to other institutions.

categories: Players

1:31 - October 6, 2008

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