Former Lehman CEO Richard Fuld Breaks Seven Years of Silence
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Former Lehman CEO Richard Fuld Breaks Seven Years of Silence
- Richard Fuld, former CEO of Lehman Brothers, made his first public appearance in nearly seven years in May 2015, attributing the 2008 financial crisis to a "perfect storm" of events.
- Speaking at the Marcum MicroCap Conference in New York on May 28, 2015, Fuld defended Lehman's culture and pointed to government policies and short-selling as contributing factors to its collapse.
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Richard Fuld, who served as the final chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers until its collapse in September 2008, ended his nearly seven-year public silence at the Marcum MicroCap Conference in Midtown Manhattan on May 28, 2015. In his keynote address, Fuld described the financial crisis as a “perfect storm” of contributing factors, rather than a single cause.
Fuld specifically cited government officials pushing for lower home-lending standards and homeowners using their home equity “as ATM accounts” as contributing to the crisis. He also defended Lehman Brothers’ internal culture, stating it was “all about team” and that employees owned over 30% of the firm’s stock, effectively making them “27,000 risk managers.” Additionally, he blamed aggressive short-selling by hedge funds in the months leading up to the bank’s demise.
During the 2015 conference, Fuld also expressed concerns about income inequality and the overall health of the American economy, suggesting it was not as robust as stock markets indicated. He maintained that Lehman Brothers was not bankrupt in September 2008, asserting it had $28 billion in equity capital and $127 billion in unencumbered collateral when it was “mandated into bankruptcy.” This public appearance marked a significant return to the spotlight for Fuld, who had largely avoided public speaking engagements since his testimony before Congress following Lehman’s collapse.