But the stain reinstates concern that the firm's controls are not what they should be. Lazard's misfortune is more difficult to assess, and the results are more grievous. As major owner of a firm, he had the only real control over his behavior, and he failed to exert it. The firm is the focus of an active criminal investigation, but no connection has been made between the inquiry and Lazard's death. The tragedy is that he headed a firm that co-managed $5 billion of municipal bonds in the first quarter, the most of any minority-owned firm, and seemed to have achieved success. The securities business is less in control than it should be.