The Murder of Lehman Brothers: An Insider's Look at the Global Meltdown
Pseudonymous insider account.
Summary
The reference has not verified this book in detail; the summary states only what the title, author and subject establish.
This account of the Lehman Brothers collapse was published under the pseudonym Joseph Tibman by an author identified as a long-serving Lehman investment banker. It was written and published within a year of the failure.
The perspective is that of an employee rather than of a senior executive, and the book covers the firm's culture, the relationship between the investment banking and trading businesses, the concentration in commercial real estate and mortgages, the management under Richard Fuld and Joseph Gregory, and the final months as counterparties withdrew. The title states the author's thesis, which is that the firm was allowed to fail for reasons that had little to do with its actual condition.
The reference has not verified this book in detail. It is a pseudonymous insider account published very quickly, without the documentary record that later work drew on, and its central claim about the failure being avoidable is treated more rigorously by Laurence Ball. Readers wanting the institutional account should go to Ball, to Oonagh McDonald or to the Valukas examiner's report.
Key takeaways 6
- The author argues that Lehman's failure was permitted rather than unavoidable, which later work by Laurence Ball examines rigorously.
- Lehman's concentration in commercial real estate and mortgages left it dependent on markets that closed simultaneously.
- The firm's culture rewarded the businesses producing current profit, which directed capital toward the exposures that destroyed it.
- Counterparty withdrawal in the final months proceeded faster than management could respond to.
- The account is pseudonymous, written within a year of the events, and predates the documentary record.
- Readers wanting the institutional analysis should go to Ball, McDonald or the bankruptcy examiner's report.
Who should read it
Readers interested in an employee-level perspective on Lehman's final period, with the caveat that this entry is not verified in detail.
Where it sits in the reference 2
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