Lehman Boss Fuld To Put $20 Million Of Art Collection On The Block At Christie's Tonight

The bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers wants to sell at least $8m (�5.2m) worth of the art collection that once decorated its offices. The news comes as $20m of postwar art, put up for sale by the former Lehman boss Richard Fuld and his wife Kathy, goes on the block tonight at Christie's in New York.

The sale of drawings from the Fulds' collection, including three Willem de Koonings, was announced a few days after Lehman declared bankruptcy in September. The Fulds still own a sizable art collection and five homes, including a $21m Manhattan apartment. Kathy Fuld is a well-known modern art collector and a trustee of New York's Museum of Modern Art.

The Fulds' sale also includes five Barnett Newmans, four Arshile Gorkys and four Agnes Martins. De Kooning's kinetic orange-haired 1951 Woman in graphite, charcoal, pastel and oil on paper is expected to fetch as much as $4m. His drawing Two Women could raise up to $3m. The pieces will be auctioned in Christie's evening sale at the Rockefeller Plaza.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[riders]

Its seem sad movies.

[Chaucea]

Oh, and the irony here...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/12/a-dreary-night-for-contem_n_143170.html

[rockyersocksoff]

Auction his &*(^%##@ severed head.

That was harsh. Loneliness is cruel.

Add the severed heads of AIG's board, Goldman Sachs' last five directors, and Kathie Lee Gi&ford.

[emptysuitsneednotapply]

doesnt the government own this too

[dagnew]

I don't believe Lehman is part of the bailout. They filed for bankruptcy before the fact.

[truthyguy]

And you thought that incompetence and malfeasance in office did not pay well.
The whole company and its investors go down the tubes, and this A*hole ends up a multimillionaire without any worry about his financial future.

[dadw5boys]

Check the records.

See how many of the art works were deprecieated out and sold real cheap to the Executives.

[leekujawa]

Why isn't this guy in prison?

[PT6]

We are learning what to look for in confiscating the wealth they took from American and others!

Its in their homes and offices and OFF-SHORT BANKS!

[nomadicexpat]

because he hasnt been convicted of anything

[Big0725]

Har har har!

[greysilk]

What a vampire! Oh, and if "trickle down" economics worked, there would have been no need for the French Revolution.

[schatsie]

love you, great comment!

[PT6]

This illustrates why TICKLE DOWN did not work!

Hoarding EXCESS CASH in off-shore bans and art has NO ADDED VALUE TO ECONOMY!

Buying old paintings has near ZERO stimulus and near ZERO Trickle Down to the Middle Class!

No multiplier for Economy either!

[sticksnstones]

Oy, I'm crying my eyes out here. This is just such tragic news. My heart goes out to this couple. They are two of the "real Americans" that poor Sen. McCain and that young girl were referring to a couple of weeks ago. Never can remember her name. Oh, well. Just tragic to lose all this glitzy art because Obama created a recession for us.

[behindthescene]

PLEASE LET THIS MONEY GO BACK TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

[spinns17]

he should be in jail.i know a few brothers who would welcome him right lol

[SensibleJoe]

If you can afford a $20 million art collection, you do not need a government bailout -- and the government ought not to hand you one. Liquidate first, then come crying and begging.

[bikerdude]

That isn't a bad idea at all. Liquidate all their assets then let them get in the unemployment line like everyone else. The good thing about Fuld is that he looks like someone very easy to hate.

[hollybork]

Lehman's, at the behest of Fuld and his minions last spring, paid out $9 B in bonuses to their employees. Come September 2008, and JP Morgan does a margin call on them for $8 B because assets held on account had declined in value against borrowing, and Lehman could not pay the margi call. They could have paid the call, of course, had they not given themselves those enormous bonuses. Presumably the bonuses were approved by the Board of Directors, who were selected by the influence of the same executives who got the bonuses. These people ruined the company, stole its profits, destroyed its business integrity by leveraging 40 - 1, thereby putting at risk their employees, bond holders, shareholders, creditors and the greater financial markets as a whole.

Surely Fuld et al should be prosecuted. The Board of Directors should be civilly sued individually for malfeasance and aiding and abetting fraud. When are we going to start prosecuting these excecutives? I cannot imagine the prisons are too full to hold these villains. Let some of the marijuana dudes out of prison and make some room for the real criminals.

[Big0725]

And an AIG overseas division is STILL talking about laying out hundreds of millions for bonuses this year.

[schatsie]

Bonuses are not taxed as income for these people, they are taxed as capital gains,,,, it is time to up the ante on the rich, back to 91% like the 50s when the economy really rocked and worked for the middle working class....

[bikerdude]

Spot on, Hollybork....Accountability is the key here. They performed like any common criminal, so they need to be treated accordingly.