How Much Did Lehman CEO Dick Fuld Really Make?

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Through his attorney Patricia Hynes, Fuld declines to comment. "We're not giving any interviews," says Hynes. Fuld did not respond to detailed questions faxed to his office. Calls to John Akers, former chairman of IBM, and John Macomber, former chairman of Celanese Corp., who both served on the compensation committee of Lehman's board, were not returned.

Fuld continued getting money out of Lehman Brothers right up until the end. In March 2008, with the credit crisis gathering force and talk circulating of Lehman's precarious state, Fuld and his lieutenants argued in the proxy statement that they deserved large incentive awards for "successfully navigating the difficult credit and mortgage environments and maintaining the firm's strong risk controls." The board agreed, awarding Fuld $40 million for his work in 2007, of which $35 million was in restricted stock.

When the bank collapsed in September 2008, the restricted stock was rendered worthless. However, the board did allow Fuld to cash in a Lehman investment partnership despite rules that normally allowed redemptions only if the executive left Lehman or died, according to a report on the bankruptcy by Anton R. Valukas, the bankruptcy examiner. Two months before Lehman filed for bankruptcy, the board agreed to pay Fuld $4 million for his limited partnership interest.

In advance of his testimony, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett racked up 889.3 hours of work prepping Fuld and producing documents for Congress. The bill, paid by the bankruptcy estate, came to $491,197.

One question that remains is why Budde stayed on at Lehman for as long as he did, given what he says he observed there. "It's kind of like the frog in the boiling water," he says. "It took a while to figure out how bad it was. My moral compass was always there, but I felt I was learning important stuff. I always told my boss how I felt, and I made my objections."

Budde doesn't have a job. He's living off savings in Vermont and says he's enjoying a simpler life. He is considering putting his financial background to a more productive use, by helping a pension fund do socially responsible investing, for example. "I don't want to come across as a Boy Scout," he says, "but this is the job you're licensed by society to do as a lawyer, to stand up."

Sterngold is a reporter for Bloomberg News.

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