Thain Says He Should Have ‘Grabbed, Shaken’ Paulson
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Merrill Lynch & Co.’s former Chief Executive Officer John A. Thain said Wall Street leaders should have tried harder to convince U.S. regulators they needed to prevent the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Banking chiefs weren’t “strong enough” during 2008 meetings in insisting that then-Treasury Department Secretary Henry Paulson reverse his opposition to a U.S.-led rescue of Lehman, Thain told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, according to audio files released yesterday.