Here is an excellent documentary by the BBC on the downfall of Lehman Brothers. The failure of the oldest investment bank on Wall Street touched off the banking crisis that crippled economies around the world. All the major players involved in the lead up to and eventual bankruptcy are involved, with the exception of arrogant Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld. Fuld started working at Lehman Brothers as an intern while in college, and after graduation was hired by the firm. He worked his way up the ladder and became CEO in 1994. Lehman Brothers stock was worth around $8 a share when he took over before its demise was trading at more than $80 per share. The huge increase in share price and record profits for the firm and its shareholders was misleading. Under Fuld’s tutelage the firm had become heavily invested in commercial and residential real estate. They became the largest holder of risky credit default swaps in the US. Fuld authorized Lehman to take huge risks using leverage that exceeded 40 to 1, the highest on Wall Street.

Nothing Lehman did was illegal or even unique among Wall Street firms. But as is often the case, greed is eventually what brought everything crashing down. Profits at any cost became a way of life at Lehman. Things were good for so long that people who should have known better forgot what it felt like to lose. Nobody stopped to think what might happen if the housing market one day stopped going up and the markets crashed. Lehman Brothers was so overextended and over-leveraged that it didn’t take much to tip it over the cliff.

In the BBC report, Lehman employees claim Dick Fuld was like a God within the company and in the business community at large. He didn’t even speak to low level employees. When someone would say good morning he would not respond. If you rode the elevator with him you did not speak. It is precisely that kind of attitude and arrogance that can only spell disaster for an organization. It means the leader has lost touch. It means he’s not thinking rationally anymore. It means he’s bought into his own hype. A man who thinks he can never be wrong usually is.

Probably, the slickest and most shrewd individual in this entire episode would have to be Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain. He’s a Gordon Gecko-esque character who could see two moves ahead of his rivals. When you watch the show you’ll see why.

Former Lehman CEO Richard Fuld was attacked and knocked out cold while on the treadmill the day after announcing that Lehman had gone bankrupt.

“From two very senior sources – one incredibly senior source – that he went to the gym after … Lehman was announced as going under. He was on a treadmill with a heart monitor on. Someone was in the corner, pumping iron and he walked over and he knocked him out cold. And frankly after having watched this, I’d have done the same too.”

It’s about time these corporate thugs suffered some kind of punishment for running their companies into the ground at tax payer’s expense, then walking away with millions.