Richard Fuld, the disgraced chief executive of Lehman Brothers who led the 158-year-old investment bank to its downfall last September, transferred his ownership of a $14 million Florida mansion to his wife for $100 in a possible attempt to safeguard his assets from the reach of the infuriated investors of the bank looking for compensation. The couple had jointly owned the Jupiter Island property they brought in March 2004 for $13.75 million, and the ownership was transferred on November 10. The 3.3-acre property is one of the five luxury homes owned by Fulds, who spent most of their time at their eight-bedroom mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. Fuld has been named in at least one lawsuit filed by the Californian Lawsuit as they lost $150 million on its investment in Wall Street. Some lawyers claimed that Fuld’s Florida mansion could be saved, thanks to Florida’s unusually generous home protection laws.
For availing the law, the Fuld’s would have to prove that they spent most of their time in the Florida mansion or another supposition that the debt was Mr. Fuld’s and nor Mrs. Fuld’s. The 62-year-old banker still refuses to accept his responsibility for America’s largest bankruptcy. He is reported to have collected $480 million in eight years at the bank as compensation, which is a figure he disputes, pointing out that he had taken only $300 home. As a response to this event, many of the infuriated investors appeal for call upon new laws that enter the loopholes and crack it because fraudulent live in luxury while the corporate laws of their company extensively affect the common man.
[Timesonline]
