Excerpt from Murder of Lehman

"The team from Lehman was devastated. It appeared an agreement had come together to save the firm and its employees, only to be snatched from their hands as they readied to ink it. Bart McDade, by Sunday afternoon, called Fuld to deliver the news. Fuld was stunned. I suppose, like many of us at Lehman, he never believed the government would let Lehman fail. In Dick’s case, however, it was more personal. He believed that all the months of courting Paulson ensured that Lehman would benefit from a worst-case-scenario safety net. As far back as April, following a dinner with Paulson, Fuld had said we “have huge brand with Treasury.” At last he understood what other Wall Street CEOs had gleaned that recent Friday evening: Lehman was not considered essential by Paulson."