September 16, 2008
Mr. Barbash appears on CNN's Lou Dobbs program to discuss the role of government regulators in the current string of breakdowns of prominent Wall Street firms.
On September 15, partner Barry Barbash appeared on CNN’s Lou Dobbs program to discuss the role of government regulators in the current string of breakdowns of prominent Wall Street firms. The segment, entitled "Asleep at the Switch," examined why the federal government did not seem to recognize the impending failures of Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch or Bear Stearns last March, as well as Fannie Mae and Feddie Mac last month. Mr. Barbash, who formerly served as Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management, said that "There is going to be a lot of auditing autopsies – and not just of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." He told correspondent Kitty Pilgrim that regulators likely had a sense of what was going on, but not enough detail. Going forward, Mr. Barbash noted that he thought the government would evaluate Lehman and other banks to get a sense of what instruments were being held and how they were being valued.