[dmichulke]

If your story is valid then - in some sense - Willy was less risky than Lehman was because the reserve ratio (assuming 10 mn$ of "printed money") was only a fraction of the existing money (I suppose less than 10%), so they operated with a reserve of >=90%

Lehman on the other hand had a leverage of approx. 30 = a reserve of 3.3%

Seems like the existence of a regulator for Lehman / AIG had some impact, just not quite the intended one.