THEY lead their companies down the drain but when they leave, they walk away with little pain - and a pot of gold.

Think the men who used to rule at former investment giants Bear Stearns, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch.

But could Mr Richard Fuld, the CEO of the bankrupt Lehman Brothers, be the first of Wall Street's money-losing bosses to walk away with no going-away bonus?

While some of his top executives cashed out early before Lehman collapsed on Monday, Mr Fuld, 62, hung on until the very end.

And the man nicknamed 'The Gorilla' for his intimidating presence came out the poorer for it.

His stocks and options, once worth US$1.2 billion ($1.7b), became almost worthless after Lehman went bust, reported Bloomberg News.

This week, Mr Fuld sold 2.88 million shares at 16 to 30 US cents after he failed to find a buyer for Lehman, according to a regulatory filing. That's less than US$500,000, reported Forbes.

Eighteen months ago, those shares were worth US$247 million.

And if he loses his job? Sorry, no severance pay for him, according to Lehman's annual proxy statement.

Instead, much of his pay is tied to stock performance. And seeing that Lehman's share price is still in free fall, Mr Fuld, the company's largest individual shareholder, should not expect his pay to go through the ceiling.

Mr David Schmidt, senior consultant at compensation consulting firm James F Reda & Associates, told Forbes: 'Fuld has taken a huge hit.'

Mr Fuld owns 10.9 million shares and restricted stock units as of 31 Jan, worth US$931m at their peak price, reported Bloomberg News. He also has in-the-money options and other stock worth almost $300m more, said Mr Graef Crystal, a pay consultant in California who reviewed Lehman's proxy filings.

Mr Schmidt said Mr Fuld 'has lots of stock, stock options and restricted stock that are essentially worthless'.

Well, sure, Mr Fuld may be poorer, but his critics certainly won't spare a dime of pity on him. Neither will his 22,000 employees and Lehman's investors who are now bearing the brunt of the firm's collapse.

After all, during his 14 years at the helm, the 30-year Wall Street veteran has reaped enough rich rewards.

Between 1993 and last year, Mr Fuld took home US$466m in pay, according to executive pay research firm Equilar. And he received almost half a billion dollars in cash from sales of Lehman stock, reported Fortune magazine.

Last year, he earned about US$45m, according to the Equilar - about $17,000 an hour. Earlier this year, he was also awarded US$22m in retirement pay. And since that was earned while he was still at Lehman, he has a good chance of keeping it, Mr Schmidt said.

And while he is not entitled to a severance payout, Mr Fuld may still get other forms of payouts if he loses his job.

In a 12 Sep report in the International Herald Tribune, Reda Associates said Mr Fuld could expect to collect US$63.3m in various payouts based on the then-share price. That would include a US$16m pension and $5.6m in deferred compensation.

This article was first published in The New Paper on September 19, 2008.