Richard B. Handler

Handler joined Jefferies in April 1990 as a salesman and trader[3] and was appointed CEO on January 1, 2001,[5] Chairman in 2002.[3] Since his appointment as CEO, Jefferies’s shares had risen 154% between 2001 and 2013, and the firm grew from a securities-industry boutique into a full-service investment bank, with revenues of $3.1 billion as of 2019.[6][7]

In November 2011, ratings company Egan-Jones issued a negative report regarding Jefferies that caused a 20% decline in the Jefferies stock price minutes after the opening bell the following morning.[8][9] Chris Kotowski of Oppenheimer & Co. made public statements pointing out figures in the Egan-Jones report that were 'so grotesquely wrong they should immediately jump off the page to anyone remotely familiar with the numbers.'[10][11] The Egan-Jones report was described by Kotowski in his research report from November 23, 2011 titled "Another Hack Attack" as 'flat out wrong',[12] and was followed by what Handler characterized as a multi-week public attack on Jefferies by Sean Egan.[9] Handler and the Jefferies management team responded with unprecedented immediacy and transparency, collapsing in a matter of days 75% of a sovereign debt position that had been identified as a problem by Egan to prove the bonds were hedged and highly liquid, sharply reducing the rest of Jefferies balance sheet, and publicly addressing the accusations on an almost daily basis.[13] This aggressive and unconventional response resulted in an eventual rebound in Jefferies share price.[9]

On June 21, 2022, the SEC charged Egan-Jones Ratings Company with violating conflict of interest provisions in a set of separate matters in 2018 and 2019, concluding that the firm “failed to establish, maintain, and enforce policies and procedures reasonably designed to manage such conflicts of interest,”[14] and further, that Egan himself had caused the violations.

Egan-Jones agreed to settle for a $1.7 million penalty and $146,000 of interest and disgorgement, and Egan himself separately settled for a $300,000 penalty; neither party admitted or denied the SEC’s findings.

In August 2012, Handler played a lead role in saving Knight Capital Group after the company suffered a $440 million loss due to a 'technology glitch.' Together with Brian Friedman, President of Jefferies Financial Group Inc., Handler structured and led the rescue,[15] which included making Jefferies the largest shareholder with an investment of $125 million.[16]

In November 2012, Jefferies announced its merger with Leucadia National Corporation, its largest shareholder and a longtime partner of Handler. In March 2013, Jefferies merged with Leucadia,[17] and Handler became CEO of both companies.[18] In 2018, Leucadia rebranded as Jefferies Financial Group Inc. to better reflect the company’s business focus.[19]