Former Lehman CEO Dick Fuld May Never Trade Again

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Fox Business Network anchor Charlie Gasparino recently did some great reporting on the former chief executive of Lehman Brothers, and asked the question, “What’s the CEO what he’s up to these days?”

The answer: Not much.

After Lehman Brothers flamed out spectacularly in 2008, arguably the biggest domino to fall in what was the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, CEO Dick Fuld was left without a job. He didn’t get a golden parachute, per se, however Fuld did enjoy a hefty total compensation of almost $72 million for his astute leadership in 2007, right before the wheels fell off.

But for many high powered executives, it’s also about the power and prestige of Wall Street. And Dick Fuld wasn’t one to give up on the investment banking business.

Unfortunately, clients don’t seem to care very much whether the former Lehman CEO is open for business. They aren’t interesting in procuring his services.

Most recently, Fuld was forced to resign from Legend Securities, which he joined in May 2010, in short because he couldn’t find anyone who wanted to do business with him. According to the Fox Biz report, regulators began questioning the CEO of Legend asking, “what is Dick Fuld doing for your firm?” and because Fuld was unable to “get registered at the state level” or “gin up business” he was forced to resign. Charlie Gasparino said the feds were concerned the former Lehman CEO was just “parking” his securities license there but not processing any real business or trades — a red flag for regulators.

Check out the video and read along with this excerpt:

 

“The firm came under tremendous regulatory scrutiny. They kept peppering the CEO of the company, asking what is Dick Fuld doing for your firm? They couldn’t really answer that, and he had to go. If you are on Wall Street, you have to be domiciled at a firm. If you don’t do business there, the regulators will say, why is his guy parking his license at your firm? And that’s what happened here. Basically he had to leave. It was a voluntary resignation, but there is no doubt Dick Fuld, because he couldn’t gin up business, had to leave. He could not get registered at the state level. He has no Wall Street employment. He is out of the securities business.”

In short, there isn’t life after Lehman for Dick Fuld on Wall Street.

Read an in-depth companion peice (in text) from Charlie Gasparino on Fox Business here.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2012/02/lehman-ceo-dick-fuld-job/.

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