The man with perhaps the most to lose in the wake of bank examiner Anton Valukas's report on the demise of Lehman Brothers (Lehman Brothers news) is actually feeling pretty good about himself these days.

The New York Post reports that, according to people involved in the matter, Richard Fuld (Richard Fuld news) believes that the report "provides proof that he did nothing illegal as he steered Lehman through a financial mess that ultimately led the firm to file the largest bankruptcy in US history." The view seems to be that if the Repo 105 transactions were the worst that the examiner could dig up after an exhaustive review, then he's in good shape. This despite the report's view that he's "at least grossly negligent."

We've noted that he's in tough position by claiming he knew nothing of the Repo 105 activity because it means that he was completely out of touch with a program of profound significance to the very survival of the firm. Some would wonder he could not know, unless he was completely checked out. We'll see how this plays out for him. But at a minimum, there will be a flood of civil litigation. 

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