Lehman's Fuld: Where Was Our Bailout?

Richard Fuld, the disgraced head of Lehman Brothers, said he would wonder "until they put me in the ground'' why the U.S. government did not rescue the 158-year-old Wall Street firm and claimed regulators knew the full scale of its condition far before its collapse.

Dick Fuld

Fuld said he took full responsibility for his actions ahead of the downfall of Lehman, but said U.S. regulators knew exactly what the firm's liquidity was and how it was pricing its distressed assets in the months.

Despite his acceptance of his role before the collapse, U.S. lawmakers expressed outrage to Fuld about Lehman on Monday, saying that Fuld, board members, regulators and Congress all shared blame for its downfall.

"I want to be very clear. I take full responsibility for the decisions that I made and for the actions that I took based on the information that we had at the time,'' Fuld told a congressional panel. "I feel horrible about what has happened to the company and its effects on so many.''

Fuld said he did not know why the U.S. government chose to help other financial companies, but not Lehman, as it hurtled toward disaster.

"Until the day they put me in the ground I will wonder,'' he said. "I do not know why we were the only one'' that was not rescued. Fuld said Lehman took steps to reduce its leverage as market conditions worsened and by Sept 10, it had reduced its balance sheet by close to $200 billion