WILEY The Devil′s Casino: Friendship, Betrayal, and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers

This well told and interesting, in a magazine article sort of way, account of the growth of Lehman Brothers in the latter part of the 20th century driven by the charismatic Chris Pettit, Dick Fuld, Joe Gregory, Tommy Tucker and Stevie Lessing collectively known as 'The Ponderosa Boys' (from the popular TV series 'Bonanza'. Things started to go awry after Pettit was eased out in 1996,and it is from that point that most of this books concentration is focused.Chris Pettit was seemingly the epitome of the all-American boy, being handsome, dashing, charming, sociable, athletic, and an inspirational leader and motivator of those around him, Wall Street's answer to Indiana Jones, although his 'halo' tilted a tad when alcohol and adultery became part of his life. After he went, Dick Fuld was left in de facto sole executive charge but was highly influenced by the advice, and guidance on virtually all matters particularly relating to personnel by Joe Gregory who according to the Author was universally disliked, and held in low esteem by virtually everybody else but Dick Fuld. It was conjectured that he was very insecure and therefore, used his 'hold' over Fuld to get rid of any colleague whose talent might pose a threat to his own power base irrespective of the harm to Lehman Brothers of losing a lot of its 'movers and shakers'. Gregory's primary and overwhelming interest, seemingly was his own enrichment and extravagant lifestyle which he pursued even as the company was plummeting into the quagmire of horrendous losses and bankruptcy in 2007/2008.However, I cannot quite accept that Joe Gregory was as instrumental in Lehman's demise as the author and those interviewed by her maintain. Dick Fuld was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, with the reputation of being bold, decisive and ruthless and should have taken a tighter grip on the key staffing and investment decisions. Where were the well remunerated Board of Directors when the firms key executives were being got rid of and crazy investments decisions being arrived at primarily in both residential and commercial property on a massive scale in the face of the fast approaching tsunami of an historical collapse in property values? Joe Gregory may have a share of the blame but he was by no means the conductor-in-chief, that 'honor' was shared by many others and it is not fair to suggest otherwise.Lehman failed because it ignored the danger signals that were blatantly obvious and continued to invest recklessly in the dodgy mortgages market when US sub-prime was just the leading edge of the financial hurricane that in full view of everybody was fast bearing down on all financial markets. Lehman also massively stepped up it's gambling in commercial property at a time when finding itself in the self-dug pit of despondency and stupidity, should have stopped digging, and thought about getting the hell out of these classes of toxic assets not digging in deeper. Self-denial was the strategy adopted by the company as is evidenced by Dick Fuld's cloud cuckoo statement at the annual meeting in April 2008 when he said "The worst of the impact of the financial markets is behind us." This utterance surely must go down as one of the most self-delusional or deliberate porky-pies ever.This book by Vicky Ward (who bears an uncanny likeness to the hapless short-lived, and over promoted Lehman Chief Financial Officer, Erin Callan) certainly gives a competent broad brush stroke account of the timeline and events leading to Lehman's Bankruptcy but I do not wholly support her analysis of blame for the collapse - that was pure and simply just bad, foolish, irresponsible gambles in illiquid assets in a downward spiraling market, and that wasn't Joe Gregory's responsibility.

Highly readable and engrossing account of the inside strife that brought Lehman Brothers down. The author is a superb reporter of the story, including enough detail to understand events and the story but without ever dragging. A riveting account starting with the story of four friends who car-shared to work at Lehman brothers and going on to describe both the characters who played a part in the story of the bank (some good guys, some baddies), but progressing to describe the huge risks and mistakes made. A salutary story of our credit strapped times. Five stars all the way for this book.

Fascinating. Well worth a read - enjoy all the jaw-dropping revelations.

My husband read this book per one day in one go and he didn't make a break to eat or watch TV....and even forgot about me for some time. What can I say...The book must be realy exciting! :-)

Dieser Bericht ist wirklich unfassbar, das sind Verhältnisse, so etwas geht in Deutschland gar nicht. Das ist wie aus einer anderen Welt und darum sehr interessant. Das ist eine Studie über die rücksichtslose Selbstsucht des menschlichen Charakters und den Preis, der dafür zu bezahlen ist.. Erhellend, erschütternd, einfach irre. Es geht um Dimensionen von Reichtum, die in Deutschland unvorstellbar sind und obendrein wird geprotzt, was das Zeug hält. Neues Geld, das anderen fehlt. Die Ehrlosigkeit der Banken und der Menschen dahinter, die trotz all Ihres Reichtums ein so unfassbar armes Leben leben. Das ist wirklich total abgefahren. Die Ehefrauen mussten ständig mit von der Partie sein, ein Privatleben gab es nicht, Freundschaften werden ausschliesslich aus Kalkül begonnen und beendet und selbst die erfolgreichstem Intriganten wundern sich noch, am Ende ganz allein da zu stehen. Wie schrecklich einsam. Ich würde verrückt werden, nicht um alles Geld der Welt ! Und ich glaube, das ist ein generelles Problem dieser Nation. Einsam zu sein, unter so vielen Menschen, weil Konsum alles ist und teilen und Mitgefühl nicht auf dem Programm steht. Nur die Harten komm' in' Garten, schrecklich und beim Lesen musste ich an "Die Firma" mit Tom Cruise denken, Lehman hätte echt die Steilvorlage zum Film sein können !