58 “My regret was”: Author interview with Ace Greenberg, June 11, 2010; transcript.
58 “Well, you’ve had your big moment, Mr. Secretary”: From author interview with a Treasury official.
CHAPTER THREE: ZOMBIES AT LEHMAN
59 “Across the table the Lehman guys truly looked like zombies”: From a banking source inside the meetings; notes.
60 Description of phone calls between Paulson and Fuld: Author interview with Lehman executive on background; notes.
61 “When I heard people”: Author interview with Scott Friedheim, February 10, 2010; transcript.
64 Callan in Condé Nast Portfolio: Sheelah Kolhatkar, “Wall Street’s Most Powerful Woman,” Condé Nast Portfolio, March 2008. Additional background on Callan is from an author interview, October 30, 2007, after she became Lehman CFO; transcript.
65 Author interview with Erin Callan, March 20, 2008; on Closing Bell, and partially published in my BusinessWeek column “Facetime with Maria Bartiromo”; www.cnbc.com; magazine and transcript.
65 “Good to see you”: Author interview with Erin Callan, Closing Bell, April 1, 2008; www.cnbc.com.
66 Einhorn made the Lehman speech at the Ira W. Sohn Investment Research Conference, which coincided with the publication of his book, Fooling Some of the People All of the Time (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2008; www.greenlightcapital.com).
68 “If you’re asking me”: Author interview with Brad Hintz, June 4, 2008; transcript.
68 Paulson’s calls to Fuld were described to me by a Treasury official close to the secretary; notes.
68 “It really became apparent over the summer that no one had the same view as Dick of what Lehman was worth”: Background interview with a Treasury source; notes.
69 “Every weekend we were at the office, busted up into teams, discussing options”: Description by Lehman executive on background; transcript.
69 Wednesday, June 4, 2008, Wall Street Journal article: Susanne Craig, “Lehman Is Seeking Overseas Capital: As Its Stock Declines, Wall Street Firm Expands Search For Cash, May Tap Korea.”
70 Descriptions of the upset inside Lehman after the article was published are from interviews with former executives, including Friedheim; transcript.
71 “I’ve been crying”: Author’s personal conversation with Erin Callan.
72 “the marketplace”: Larry Fink’s recollections shared on my television special, One Year Later: Recollections from the Street; www.cnbc.com.
72 Optimistic sports analogies in mid-2008 are from Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack to shareholders: “The subprime crisis is in the eighth or ninth inning”; Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein: “We’re probably in the third or fourth quarter of a four quarter game.”
73 “A lot of the managements”: Author interview with Brad Hintz, June 2008; transcript.
73 Description of Daniel Mudd’s experience at Fannie Mae: Author interview with Daniel Mudd, March 8, 2010; transcript.
77 “Some people thought Fannie was a bit stronger than Freddie”: From a conversation with a Treasury official; notes.
78 “The problem was”: Author interview with Mohamed El-Erian, March 15, 2010; transcript.
79 “Are there plans afoot”: Author interview with Hank Paulson on Closing Bell, September 10, 2008; transcript.
80 Details of the Friday evening call between Dick Fuld and Ken Lewis were recounted by a Lehman executive who was present.
CHAPTER FOUR: DOWN TO THE WIRE
83 “We finished around midnight”: Early Saturday conversations with executive sources at Lehman Brothers; notes.
84 Saturday conversation with a trader at Lehman Brothers; notes.
85 Details of Paulson and Lewis’s phone call were recounted by a Treasury official; transcript.
86 Details of Fuld’s trying to get Lewis on the phone were recounted by an executive source at Lehman; notes.
87 Reports from the working groups were described by many sources inside the meetings, including Robert Wolf, Vikram Pandit, and John Mack; transcript.
88 “I was pissed off because they were pounding us”: Recounted by a Treasury official; notes.
89 “You have the thundering herd”: Recounted by a Treasury official; transcript.
92 Description of Hank Greenberg’s role and sentiments: Multiple author interviews with Hank Greenberg; transcripts.
94 He’d called Lehman “a great franchise”: Author interview with Hank Greenberg, June 17, 2008; transcript.
96 “Dick is amazing”: Conversation with a Lehman executive on background; notes.
96 “It looked like”: Author interview with Robert Wolf, February 18, 2010; transcript.
CHAPTER FIVE: DEATH SENTENCE AND CHAMPAGNE
99 Background on weekend events from September 14, 2008, are from the CNBC report “Lehman CEO sees star fade as firm faces bankruptcy”; www.cnbc.com.
100 Description of Bob Diamond’s actions the morning of September 13: Author interview with Bob Diamond, September 17, 2008; transcript.
101 “They kind of strung us along”: Recollection of a Paulson aide; notes.
104 “People have said, ‘But why couldn’t you have done something to facilitate a purchase?’”: Conversation with a Treasury official; transcript.
105 “there was still a big elephant in the room”: Author interview with Robert Wolf, February 18, 2010; transcript.
CHAPTER SIX: FALLOUT
108 Win Smith’s bitterness about O’Neal and the plight of Merrill: Author interviews plus Smith’s document to a special December 2008 shareholders meeting, “A Proper Eulogy,” which Smith made available to me.
110 Descriptions of Lewis-Thain press conference. Eyewitness impressions and tape; www.cnbc.com.
112 After the press conference I sat down to tape a one-on-one interview with Ken Lewis, September 15, 2008; transcript.
113 “What are your thoughts?”: Author interview with Win Smith on Closing Bell, September 15, 2008; www.cnbc.com.
114 Description of author interview with Meredith Whitney of Oppenheimer on Closing Bell, September 15, 2008; www.cnbc.com.
115 “Our days had been starting”: Author interview with Mohamed El-Erian, March 15, 2010; transcript.
119 “I’m trying to figure out”: Author interview with Bob Diamond, September 17, 2008; transcript.
120 Description of David Boies’s advocacy on behalf of Hank Greenberg: Author interview with David Boies on Closing Bell, September 17, 2008; www.cnbc.com.
121 Text of the letter from Hank Greenberg to Bob Willumstad, supplied to me by David Boies.
122 “I would ask for less”: Author interview with Hank Greenberg, September 16, 2008; transcript.
123 “I feel energized”: Author interview with Ed Liddy, September 17, 2008; transcript.
124 “Dick and I had this conversation”: Recollections of a friend and former colleague of Fuld; notes.
124 Description of Fuld’s testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, October 7, 2008.
CHAPTER SEVEN: POPCORN AND DOMINOES
127 Details of John Mack’s efforts are described in an interview for my television special, One Year Later: Recollections from the Street; www.cnbc.com.
