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THE FOUR INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE DONE MOST TO BOOST WORLD CONFIDENCE...
AND THE SIX WHO HAVE DONE THE MOST TO DESTROY IT...
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Bernard Madoff Fraudster
Architect of the largest Ponzi fraud scheme in history, and the man who single-handedly defrauded thousands of investors of almost US$65 billion (S$100 billion). |
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Henry Paulson Former US treasury secretary
He made the ill-fated decision to let investment bank Lehman Brothers fail in September last year - after months of insisting everything was under control. |
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John Thain Former chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch
Once lauded for engineering the last-ditch takeover of Merrill by Bank of America, he fell from favour following revelations that he had spent US$1.22 million to renovate his offices, including buying a US$1,400 wastebasket. |
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Richard Fuld Former CEO of Lehman Brothers
He pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars in his eight-year tenure but failed to keep the 158-year-old firm from going bankrupt. When Mr Fuld was given US$22 million in retirement pay, public anger erupted - resulting in (false) rumours that he was punched in the face at Lehman's office gym. |
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Alan Greenspan Former Federal Reserve chairman
The world's markets once hung on to his every word, but Mr Greenspan is now in disgrace for presiding over two decades of deregulation and financial engineering that led to the US sub-prime mortgage fiasco. |
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Maurice "Hank" Greenberg Former CEO of AIG
He built the insurance company into a colossus, but in the process took huge risks that - a few years and US$170 billion in government aid later - still threaten to drive AIG into bankruptcy. The fingerprints of Mr Greenberg, forced to retire four years ago after 38 years in the firm, still remain in the form of fradulent trading schemes being unwound and billions in derivatives losses. |
(Photos: , Reuters & Bloomberg)
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