All that power and money yet still no better then pond scum. I would trust the poorest of the poor that had integrity more then these so called men that do not have a trace of honor or integrity.
He's family and children must be so proud.

Sal C., Browns Mills NJ, USA

A robber barrons. Financial magician of Wall Street. Like Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, Vanderbilt and co. The only goal of all this mans was the race to the benefits. At all cost. A simple egoist personnage. I had no respect for him.

Rick Hugues, Springfield,

I have no sympathy for billionaires. I have no respect for this man. Why? He and his cronies, including the FED, have put Americans up to their eyesballs in hock with speculation and fiat debt and now Americans are expected to pay the price while he retires in luxury. I have no respect for him

Michael, Memphis, USA

Citi's purchase of Travelers Ins, The"Barnett Decision" ,
"Graham Leach Bliley (GLB), States vs Federal Charter fight: connect the dots & Large banks have fought to play in everyone elses sandbox. Separation of Church & State is good & maybe we don't need Financial Modernization at these prices!

John Hewgley, South Pittsburg, USA

It is easy to make charcoal out of a fallen tree. This man earned his reputation by hard work and determination. He is not an Yve League graduate, yet he made Lehman a place for Yve leaguers. I worked at Lehman when it went public, he never abandoned his ship and fought to save it. I RESPECT HIM!

Patricio I. del Salto, Quito, Ecuador

the song of lehman's demie

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MXeZ3KunyXM

terry, gloucester,

to irwin fletcher: you try to be sarcastic, but the victim of a crime has surely lesser to do with the crime than the criminal. the victims go bust and loose everything, while the criminals receive millions of $$ in bonuses and "billionaire status" and "collect art". pls think twice before you write

Stephan, Trang,

"Under his stewardship, Lehmans became more and more successful "

Your definition of success and mine differ considerably.

Sheumais, Glasgow,

The housing bubble and it's aftermath is the reality of speculative risk on every player's part - buyers and sellers. Let the chips fall where they may this time and then seriously consider re-regulation of the banking industry, at least on a limited basis to hold banks to sound business practices

Fred, New York City, USA

I love how its all about hate solely for the CEOs. I'm sure mortgage companies dealing out the ridiculous sub-prime mortgages, credit card companies issuing credit cards to HS/college students & everyone & their mother, and people buying houses twice what they can afford have nothing to do with it.

Irwin Fletcher, Ft Walton Beach,

which company is Lehmans

KP, houston, usa

Let's see. A business that doesn't create anything, i.e. a car, piece of steel, a glass, that makes money trading and speculating on illusory dots on a computer screen, finally goes broke. How surprising.
It's almost the exact plot of a book I recently read called A Distant Crossing .

Tom Stitt, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

They really should do away with the top ceo prize in the US. The last time they gave it to Sandy Weill and he went down. This time they've given it to Fuld and look what happened- he will take the industry down Poisoned chalice

chottu, Singapore,

Care for him like he cared for US - lock him up and throw away the key. He and others running Wall Street should never be allowed to see the light of another day. Through their unrelenting greed they have stolen the dreams of an entire generation. We were all exposed to their market manipulation

Dan, Gilbert, USA

I just don't know how anyone can say they didn't see it coming. Word was Lehman's was going to fail back in January.

Hold on in blind feigned ignorance if you want, but protestations on the day of "oh, what a surprise" really are ridiculous.

Laura Roberts, London, UK

With the "moneychangers" ... nothing ever changes. Watching the avaricious Fuld fold is a joy to behold.

Warren Wilson, Kirkland, WA 98034, USA

Well said K.R. Miller - success involves taking risks! That's why Merrill Lynch cut a deal with Bank of America; that's why Paulson told Dick Fuld "No Gov't Bail Out".

Lehman was never a Ponzi scheme. When the bonus pool was the same as the market cap, shareholders should've asked tough questions.

Gordon Rae, Exeter, UK

Hero to Zero!

Master of the Universe to mouse in the backyard!

Richard, Paris, France

This guy is a thug plain and simple, go straight to jail for life! Not the C Club but where the street thugs go, stay tuned.

gs, PHX, US

The media avoids looking at the roots of this crisis. During the Clintonista rule, the demoncrats began a new mantra "affordable housing" as an end run around boosting welfare for illegal immigrants (future demoncrat voters) and welfare layabouts. Wall St. happily went along with the relaxed rules.

Jim, San Francisco, USA

Don't we have laws against ponzi schemes? Time to start prosecuting. Oh I forgot, we don't do that, instead we have the these guys pay back .00001%, admit to doing nothing wrong and promise not to do it again.

Rob, Richmond, VA,

K R Miller -Taking a risk is one thing - these guys should know that people who could not afford a mortgage 20 years ago, cannot afford one now - when prices have outstripped income inflation. These are not "investments". The man lost his discipline and 26,000 pay the price. 25,000 are small people!

Jon, London, England

I am consoled that Mr Fuld is humbled. It makes it easier to pay my increased Australian property taxes raised to pay for money lost by Lehman.

Thomas Ackerman, Helidon, Australia

Will they never learn? Drexel Burnham Lambert was once the most profitable bank in the US. (junk bonds) Within a fews years it went belly up.

These very intelligent? people, approved mortgages for people with no income. What did their risk analysts say??? Were any sacked??

A huge can of worms.

Graham, St. Albans, uk

Ahhh..the poor, poor little mite. Still, if he's as tough as he and his banking friends think he is it shouldn't bother him.

Might book a flight, pop over there and say hello.

MD, Milton Keynes,

Why is everyone blaming Wall st. alone for this situation?
What about the estate agents that over valued properties?
What about the buy-to-let croud who bought at stupid prices?
What about the individuls who took out mortgages knowing it was not possible for them to pay?

Pete, London, united Kingdom

Yes the only people that will suffer are the sharholders.. and the employees .. well some will walk away with money and they can just go to work for another con game they call financial managment. So who cares.. well we all should this will only be the tip of the iceburg so to speak..

Tim F, Shanghai, China

Carol Crowell, Dante's Inferno is hogwash. There is no such place as hell. What sort of deity do you worship, who claims to be the sum total of Love but who would sentence sinners to eternal damnation? Love means forgiveness. Dante's Inferno is Catholic hogwash!

Donna Stevens, Chicago, USA

By all accounts, the guy was successful. Somehow the domino effect began with this risky mortgage business and if you were in Wall Street, you were in the mortgage business or you were an idiot. People didn't pay their bills and took on too much debt...and they defaulted. This isn't all his fault

S.M., Dallas, USA

Now they know how all those factory workers felt when the mills moved to china.

bill, New Castle, Pa, USA

Fuld had ample time to liquidate some of his MBS/CMO/CDOs and other Level 3 securities. Fuld didnt liquidate or if he did, he didnt tell the street. Merrill hit a .22 cent bid on $30bln. We didnt see Lehman do that. Ego got in the way, and that is usually what brings down every offsides trader.

Scottsdale Meathead, Scottsdale AZ, USA

Don’t forget that the real cause of this mess is the government’s involvement in the free market. Not only did Dick Fuld and his staff get rich but so did many congress’ campaign funds and lobbyists’.

Monty Moore, Dana Point, USA

religious references miss the point of the article:this was a tough fighter as well as a caring boss.He won many bouts and lost this last big one.There is little need for moralistic jeremiads.

marcus de Luxor, Mettmenstetten, canada

God doesn't "bring men down." Men do it to themselves. Read Dante's Inferno to see the assigned torment in hell appropriate to one's predominant sin. Virtue must be practiced in order to gain happiness in life. Leading a life of "virtue" produces the "shining city on the hill", the just society.

Carol Crowell, Salinas, USA

Mitchell,

While we are at it let's not help anyone whose home was destroyed by hurricane IKE, because if they were stupid enough to live in an area that MIGHT be destroyed by a hurricane then they need NO help from the govt. Maybe everyone should live in Iowa. (note the sarcasm)

Chuck, southtown, USA

I don't work on Wall Street, but I have two friends who do, one at the NYSE one at Merrill, both very high up, both just administrators. I asked each the same question, "how could so many firms have made the identical mistake in the same type of instrument" Real estate cant go that far down.

Matt, Chicago,

Visualize what would happen if the Egyptians had built the pyramids upside down. That is what Wall Street leverage looks like aided by their trash haulers in Dc---Schumer, Frank and Dodd etc. A little shift in the sands and something built on 50 x leverage tips over.

Mike Shea, Nashville, tn, USA

HE still leaves with over $66 million. HE did not go bust, the investors did. HE merely lost $100 million in stock value.
All this from loaning money to people who should never have qualified. The lenders sell the loans and the last one holding the paper loses. Ponzi.

Scott, Laguna Bch, USA

Perhaps he went too far.

On the other hand, how many of us could drive a business with 26,000 employees, taking it from losing 100 million a year to profitability?

Todd, Lake Oswego, Oregon

He's an Obama supporter. Cut him some slack.

Stu Goldberg, NY, USA

how can so many world class brilliant bankers by the thousands can be so wrong, so blind for so long....wake up...it was just a big fix on a global scale..1.5 trillion and still counting...poor home owners are just the excuse..

bill, NY,

He should be indicted for securities fraud along with the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, & Bear Stearns execs - I mean goons. Fuld is no better than the fraudsters at Enron & Worldcom. These criminals can hide behind "complex securities" which are worthless paper. Ponzi went to jail for a scam like this.

Freddy, West Palm Beach, USA/FL

How were they "raping" the public?
Is your money in Lehman securities?
I agree that he and others like him were negligent, possibly to a criminal level, and should be held accountable.
The millions in bonuses and stock options he held should be recoverable.
But's let's loose the class warfare.

BLC, N. Attleboro, MA,

Small people always rejoice at the fall of someone has risked large and failed. They do not comprehend that success involves taking risks. Thats why they are small people...

K.R. Miller, Waterford, USA

Never fall in love with your press clippings.

joe tumeroll, Farmington, USA

I Have an idea, how about all of us default or mortgage, go bankrupt, but have first chance to settle for pennies and be able to keep the property.

hector Lavarreda, East Haddam, United States

The man's hubris has caused the demise of Lehman Brothers, and more. He should be summarily dismissed, without bonus, along with all of Lehman's directors. Better yet, put them in jail.

Doug, Princeton, IL, USA

These robber barons and their partners in Congress and Federal Reserve have manipulated the markets for years. Unpredented wealth disparity was the first clue. Greed trickled down to house flippers developers, all aided by Greenspan and a warring congress who turned housing into an entitlement.

Karen Iacovelli, Greenville, SC

He flew too close to the sun. That's the nice way to put it. Icarus flew too close to the sun from pride, from greed. Wanting to be better than man, wanting to be godlike. This is the other side of trickle down: crash.

SkipG, Euless TX, USA

a classic case of the emperors new cloths

benjamin Harding, McMahons Point, Australia

Gee, Gus. I agree that we shouldn't bail out those evil, stupid banks that act irresponsibly, but at least I'm consistent- I don't think we should bail out evil, stupid homeowners that acted irresponsibly, either. Maybe they should have bought a smaller house.

Mitchell, houston, USA

History repeats itself. Banks fail and are picked up for pennies on the dollar by the bigger banks. JP Morgan will tell you banking has been very very good. Its funny how bottom feeding the banking system can allow JP Morgan to be the UBER Bank and rule the world...coming to a town near you.

Bob, Coventry, RI,

The gorilla is now merely a chimp!!!!!

Bob, New York,

Where is the accountability, this is white collar crime people. there is no difference between Thug-wear, and Brooks Brothers. A thief is a thief no matter how cultured he or she acts.
People must demand accountability or this will happen again just as the Savings and Loan scandal of years gone by.

melvin, Jacksonville, US

Who cares? This arrogant creep is getting his reward! Again, who cares? One thing we know he can't cry all the way to the bank!!!

Michael Grace, san francisco,

>Does anyone read history. You would think that learned men like Mr. Fuld would. Since the beginning of history proud men have fallen from high places---mainly because of pride. The book of Revelation tells us of another one who fell from the presence of God, why ? Because of haughty pride.

daveB, St Helena, USA

As is chronicled in the Gospel of Luke...the first shall be last and the last shall be first. The Lord who created the earth and the universe apparently delights in bringing down the high & mighty. Mr Fuld will recover, I hope. Money & ego have a way of clouding good judgment.

Tom Banzet, Stoneville, USA

arrogance will befall the best.

dan, wellington,

Good riddance.

Cyrus, New York, New York, USA

And common middle class folks should feel what?

I am sure he is still rich.

jack, atl, USA

It is about time we flushed the toleit! How many years did the
CEO rape the public with there over the top payroll!!

Please wake up USA!! This has been going on for years the surprise is that the CEO got there hand caught this time.

Why do we bail out banks??? How about the home owner??

Gus deBruyn, frankfort il, USA