Barclays Capital has fired Mark Walsh, the man in charge of Lehman Brothers' commercial real estate investments, along with nearly all the rest of Lehman's commercial-mortgage-backed securities team, according to the trade mag Commercial Mortgage Alert.

Mr. Walsh has often been described as the "man behind the curtain" who made Lehman Brothers loads of money during the heyday of the CMBS market, but also as a man who took far too many risks and ultimately played a significant role in Lehman's demise. Indeed, Mr. Walsh financed Tishman-Speyer's ill-conceived $22.2 billion acquisition of Archstone-Smith, a luxury apartment building portfolio that has since been devalued; and financed SunCal's $110.2 million purchase of a 2.25-acre plot of land in Southern California.  read more »

Dana Rubinstein has the backstory on Mark Walsh, the star Lehman executive who orchestrated the bank's myriad commercial real estate investments. To some, Mr. Walsh is the hidden wizard behind Wall Street's demise. To others, the 48-year-old Fordham Law graduate just had really bad timing.

Mark Walsh entered 2008 as a Svengali of numbers. He headed Lehman Brothers’ commercial real estate investments, which put him at the helm of a chugging ship that spouted billions in liquid cash for deals locally and nationwide.

It was the pinnacle of a career that began 20 years before, just as Wall Street was recovering from the crash of late 1987, when Mr. Walsh, a young Fordham law school graduate scored a job at Lehman.

Mr. Walsh had worked a few years as a lawyer before finding his way to the investment bank with pre-Civil War roots. But, once arrived, he rose quickly.  read more »