In an appearance marking his return to the public eye, Dick Fuld insisted he doesn’t want to play “woulda, coulda, shoulda” about the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings.

But the former chief executive, speaking on Thursday to a crowd of more than 1,500 people at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Midtown Manhattan, was unrepentant about his late firm's culture and its role in the financial crisis, largely placing the blame instead on misguided government and central bank policy and irresponsible borrowers. At times jocular and reflective, the 69-year-old also flashed his combative side.