Ask Not Where The Buck Stops
Executive Summary: There is strong evidence that Henry “Hank” Paulson (former Goldman-Sachs CEO and, more recently, United States Treasury Secretary) took some initiative in the case of Lehman Brothers (the downfall of which is discussed extensively in Wall Street’s Naked Swindle at RollingStone.com) and rigging the game to the advantage of Goldman Sachs (a direct competitor to Lehman Brothers).
“Really?” he asked, trying to keep the shock out of his voice. Goldman is the buyer?
“Okay. I have to call you back,” Kirk said, nervously ending the conversation, and then almost shouted to Fuld and McDade, “Guys, they don’t have a client!”…
McDade, reasonably, was concerned about sharing information with a direct competitor: How mcuh did they really want to divulge? At the same time, he felt they couldn’t take a stand against a plan that he believed had originated with Paulson…
McDade, turning back to his preparations for the fast-approaching call, made his position clear: “We were told by Hank Paulson to let them in the door. We’re going to let them in the door.”
- How Paulson gave Goldman the Lehman heads-up
by Felix Salmon
2009-10-21via Rolling Stone
Think Paulson retained some nice stock options from his time as CEO?
