?Background When does the entrepreneurial spirit of capitalism cross over into unethical greediness which can have damaging results for the masses? The circumstances surrounding Lehman Brothers and its handling of subprime mortgages illustrate this issue and concern. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman Brothers was the 4th largest investment banking firm in the United States. After filling for bankruptcy, it is now regarded as “One of the biggest calamities of the current recession” and holds the title of “the largest corporate filing in the history of U.S. bankruptcy court.”1 The higher-ups at financial institutions like Lehman Brothers have their monetary interests tied up in how well the company does financially. On top of high base salaries, may executives stand to receive large end of the year bonuses or stock options if the company does well. This according to many is what drives competition in the financial services sector. For others, the direct tie to large bonuses and stock options on top of large base salaries has resulted in greedy mishandlings of other people’s money. The Decision to be Made Look at the decisions made by Dick Fuld the former CEO of Lehman Brothers. Fuld, nicknamed “the gorilla,” had been a large part of Lehman Brothers for numerous years and brought prosperity to the company. “By 2007, Lehman Brothers was the largest trader of stocks on the London Stock Exchange and had a role in a fifth of all corporate takeovers.”2 The contributing growth began in 2003 when it started acquiring mortgage companies that specialized in the subprime loans market.3 Lehman’s new scheme of repackaging sub-prime mortgage loans into bonds increased shareholders earnings 17-fold.4 However, Fuld had the fiduciary responsibility of balancing the company’s financial gain as well as risk, and he did not do so. Instead he allowed the company to increasingly invest in risky mortgages that were never repaid. His greed for personal, employee, and shareholders gains put the American homeowners, the American financial system, and the American people as a whole in jeopa