Bruce Feirstein charts the 100 people, companies, institutions, and vices most responsible for the economic mess. Tune into Vf.com for five new financial villains every day.36. William Donaldson. Because as head of the S.E.C., he allowed big banks to become wildly overleveraged. On a bright April afternoon in 2004, William Donaldson and his fellow S.E.C. commissioners met to consider a proposal that would allow big banks to increase the amount of risk carried by their brokerage divisions. As Stephen Labaton would report in The New York Times’s Pulitzer-nominated series “The Reckoning” (now available as a book), the proposal to waive the restrictions on the net capital rule was pushed by the five largest investment banks, and led by none other than Henry Paulson, who was the chairman of Goldman Sachs at the time. As Donaldson assured his commissioners, “If we do this wisely we will help...
- 9/14/2009
- Vanity Fair
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.