Dick Fuld: Protecting the Assets That Remain!

http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/01/paging-anton-valukas-dick-fuld-secretly.html

Paging Anton Valukas: Dick Fuld Secretly Transferred Jupiter Island Home To Wife

Posted by Tyler Durden at 5:42 PM

While John Thain will be enjoying his creme of the crap status of reviled interior decorators for some time, Dick Fuld is about to upstage him in the shady asset transfer category. Cityfile has broken the following bombshell: the Gorilla's $13 million home on Jupiter Island, which was held by both Mr and Mrs Dick, was recently transferred singly to Kathy. Dick sold his portion of the house on 265 S Beach Rd, Jupiter Island to his wife for the princely sum of $100. The transfer occurred on November 10, as the sordid details of Lehman's bankruptcy were becoming public knowledge.

(265 S Beach Road, Jupiter Island)

Additionally we did some extra work and tracked down the public info in Martin County's Tax Collector database on the Fuld's estate (available here). Last year the couple paid $197,193 in property tax alone; this year the amount due is $205,410. All the unemployed Lehmanites who lost their life savings will be pleased to know their former boss is still doing relatively ok. Also the public Recorded Document search in Marin County will present the Gorilla's signature in all its florid glory on the Transfer of Warranty deed.

Ping!

and fuld was once the guy that many in wall street looked up to!

Big step of faith on his part since she could decide to dump the loser.

Criminal as criminal gets. But, there are others, like the Clintons getting away with a lot more than this.

Getting over-the-top praise from business media turns out to be a curse. Greenspan, Fuld, Rubin, Dubai, China, hedge fund ....

Those w/ better political connection win.
Clinton is said to spread the dough around. Such an insurance apparently pays off.

I’m wondering how the average Joe who is in trouble with Credit Cards and other debt is taking all this.

I suppose the average Joe is assumed not to have the knowledge that Fuld held all his shares during the last year of Lehman Brothers and watch something on the order of $347M shrink to about a quarter of a million at the end. Don’t get me wrong - he’s not a poor man by any means. But it’s not like he bailed on insider information - he rode that train all the way off the tracks.

And a note to the amateur detective who researched the property records - the move to her name is not all that unusual for a wealthy person in FL - due in part to the Florida Constitution’s amazingly generous homestead protections. If she wasn’t a Florida resident before look for her to have moved there yesterday in anticipation of a bankruptcy. The 2005 Bankruptcy law amendments have changed things a little bit - you do not see people moving to FL and filing for bankruptcy protection almost simultaneously(a la Bowie Kuhn in the late 1980’s) but after 40 months - you have unlimited exemption.

It seems to me that this may qualify as a huge gift. Since the IRS limits gifts to $12,000 per year per person, the remainder would be subject to the gift tax.....

The IRS makes it difficult to "give away" assets without them getting their cut.....

Trust me. They ain't happy.

Thanks, but what is the average Joe’s attitude? Is he saying to hell with it, the big guys can get away with this, so I’ll just do what I can to do the same, or what.

One would think so. I wonder if some are saying to hell with it.

It seems to me that this may qualify as a huge gift. Since the IRS limits gifts to $12,000 per year per person, the remainder would be subject to the gift tax.....

This is a fraudulent conveyance, pure and simple. Any of Fuld's creditor's could, and would attack this transfer as a scheme to defraud creditors.

If this bozo does or will owe federal taxes the IRS will still go after the home, even if it's "solely" in the name of the wife, and even if they file separate returns.

I'm surprised someone allegedly as sophisticated as this schmuck would try such an amateur stunt.

“I’m surprised someone allegedly as sophisticated as this schmuck would try such an amateur stunt”

He’s a Dick...what do you expect?

Although I’m not a fan of Huffington Post, there is a summary of Fuld’s political contributions - overwhelmingly toward the Democrat party.

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Fuld&fname=Richard

He is going to file bankruptcy if people come after him.Florida has a homestead exemption and his mansion will be safe. He needs ninety days to let the preference period run, but after that he's bullet proof.

Wonder where his cash is stashed? Cayman any one?

that’s true,

but about a year ago the sunday business section of the nyt

had a great article:

robert rubin, if you’re so smart, why didn’t you see this coming?