Unrepentant
Lehman ex-CEO Fuld says firm 'was not bankrupt'
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[May 29, 2015]
By Lauren Tara LaCapra
NEW YORK (Reuters) - 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.
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"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."
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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.
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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."
Fuld now runs a small company called Matrix Advisors, which he
characterized as an old-line merchant banking firm. He spoke before
a crowd of 1,300 who were attending a micro cap stock conference
hosted by the accounting firm Marcum.
When asked in a Q&A following his speech why he had chosen to make
his first appearance at the event, Fuld said it was time for him to
move on from the past.
"Not a day goes by where I don't think about Lehman Brothers." he
said. "I'd love to tell you I'm over it, it's behind me. Doesn't
happen."
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