Knock Out: CNBC Confirms Lehman CEO Punched at Gym

Business and Media ^ | 10/06/08 | Jeff Poor

[misterrob]

Network verifies reports Richard Fuld was attacked for financial institution's bankruptcy.

It seems anxiety from the financial crisis is reaching new highs, but the tipping point for one individual came at the Lehman Brothers gym in the midst of the company’s collapse.

While former Lehman CEO Richard Fuld was testifying before the House Oversight Committee Oct. 6, CNBC reported he had been punched in the face at the Lehman Brothers gym after it was announced the firm was going bankrupt. CNBC and Vanity Fair contributor Vicki Ward said Fuld was attacked at the gym on a Sunday following the bankruptcy.

“Frankly, I sat there and listened and I’m with the guy who apparently, the day before Barclays announced they were coming in and Lehman had already filed for bankruptcy, went over to him in the gym and punched him because that’s how I feel when I, you know, when I watched that,” Ward said on the Oct. 6 “Power Lunch.” “I didn’t think he was contrite at all, I thought he was arrogant.”

Ward confirmed previous reports about the incident that reportedly occurred Sept. 21 and said the information came from “two very senior sources.”

“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.”

Ward determined Fuld deserved the beating based on his testimony before the committee.

“I thought he was shameless,” Ward said. “I thought it was appalling. He blamed everyone. He blamed, as you say, ‘naked short sellers’ over and over in case we didn’t get the point, when in fact hedge funds like Harbinger had money locked up in Lehman and was shorting it to try and make the most of the money that they already had. He blamed everybody but himself.”

Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in September 2008 and its assets were later snatched up by the British bank Barclays for $1.35 billion, which included Lehman’s Midtown Manhattan office tower with a $960 million price tag.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

You should have knocked the taste right out of his mouth.No jury would have convicted.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Then you really make it count.

[Cyman]

He does look like he has two chicklets subbing for teeth in the picture.

[Moonman62]

Is he the one who got the $20 bil payout for just being 17 days on the job?

Does it matter? Can't we hate all CEO's without being bothered with details?

[bert]

Catching a fist in the gym is nothing compared to todays hearings where the congress beat the crap out of him

I can’t possibly understand why he showed up. You can’t be guilty of being in contempt of a contemptible congress

[Moonman62]

Nope I think that was the new Wachovia guy.

It was the Washington Mutual guy, and he's come out saying he's not taking the bonus. But we can hate him anyway.

[Moonman62]

Congress has the right to subpoena people.

[misterrob]

Ohhh, hard to see how a jury would award him anything....

[Czar]

"I say, open season on lying, stealing scumbags."

I agree, with the proviso that Congress (Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Chuckie Schumer. et. al.) be included within the scumbag population.

[freebilly]

and there isn't a jury in this country that would find him guilty.....

By your logic his assailant should have shot him....

[freebilly]

there are millions of Americans that will gladly donate to his defense fund.

Sure.

[Thumper1960]

A punch isn't quite enough.

A potato peeler, drawn across the backside and abdomen, would be just about right.

[Thumper1960]

By your logic his assailant should have shot him....

Maybe so.

But, just knee cap him, first. Let him crawl to near safety, then do an old Soviet-style single tap.

[Raebie]

No, it’s not the “new Wachovia guy”. Steel is still the CEO and he’s been there since July.

[freebilly]

But, just knee cap him, first. Let him crawl to near safety, then do an old Soviet-style single tap.

You and Waxman are in agreement....

[Liz]

A punch isn't quite enough. A potato peeler, drawn across Fuld's backside and abdomen, would be just about right.

O-o-o-o-o, that's gonna smart...but he has it coming. Nobody deserves it more than this half a billion dollar greedster.

[Liz]

JP Morgan look like the real villans. When they got upside down they got the Fed to bail out the cause (Bear), later they engineer a run on Lehman and then lock up the funds LEH needs to stay solvent. And Paulson, the ex-Goldman Sec. of the Treasury lets them fail, while propping up every other firm in the industry. (Bear, Goldmans, JP Morgan, Merrill have all received a helping hand.).........from Fuld's point of view he was screwed over by his fellow sharks.

Nice take. But Fuld deserves all the blame for not out-thinking these sharpies. He failed to line up his chess pieces in the high-stake financial games.........shoulda checkmated at the proper time. That's what he was paid half a billion to do.

All of these financial guys are Major Users. They play off each other---in sophisticated mind games to get a specific reaction. They then turnaround and use the other person for The End Game........ to enrich themselves. Very much in evidence when Fuld testified before Congress yesterday.

" Golly Ben, bailing out hedges and other greedsters who bought Fannie frauds is hard work."

"Keep bailing, Paulson."

[BuffaloJack]

Just punched?
What?
Are tar and feathers too expensive?

[VictoryGal]

>>”I say, open season on lying, stealing scumbags.”

>I agree, with the proviso that Congress (Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Chuckie Schumer. et. al.) be included within the scumbag population.

I’d say that’s a given. The sight and sound of these pieces of waste giggling like morons after the signing of the bailout bill make me nauseous beyond belief.

[Captain Kirk]

I agree, with the proviso that Congress (Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Chuckie Schumer. et. al.) be included within the scumbag population.

Don't forget Bernanke, Greenspan, Paulson and each and every member of Congress in both parties who supported the bailout.