Richard Fuld: the architect of the fall of Lehman Brothers who continues advising companies at his 80 years

Richard Fuld dedicated practically his entire working life to climbing the ranks within Lehman Brothers until, in 1994, he became its CEO. Known by the nickname of "Wall Street gorilla, the New York banker established a culture of risk within the company that bordered on irresponsibility: a modus operandi which ended up leading to the entity's downfall and turned the executive into the main architect of the 2008 financial crisis.

Months after Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, Fuld – who avoided prison and was never charged with any criminal offenses – founded Matrix Advisors in 2009, a firm specializing in advising small and medium-sized companies on mergers, acquisitions, and fundraising. In 2016, he renamed the company Matrix Private Capital Group and expanded the business into new areas such as asset management. It then emerged that his firm managed assets of about $100 million for some twenty investors and major fortunes.

Through his company, he also joined as a strategic advisor on projects such as Oasis Pro Markets, a trading platform based on blockchain. According to the biography on his company's website, Fuld also serves on the board of directors of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, one of the most prestigious in the United States. At 80 years old, the executive has barely made any public appearances, but when he has, it has been to defend his management, assuring that, at the time, Lehman Brothers was not a bankrupt company and that he could have saved it.