The chief executive of fallen investment bank Lehman Brothers will resign by the end of the year, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Pressure has mounted on Richard Fuld for his role in the demise of what was once the nation's fourth-largest investment bank. He will stay on as chairman of the board.

The announcement comes one day after New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli accused Fuld of leading Lehman to its chaotic, pre-dawn Chapter 11 filing on Sept. 15.

"Mr. Fuld's decisions drove the company toward ruin, as his board stood idly by," DiNapoli argues in court papers filed late Tuesday asking a bankruptcy judge to appoint an independent investigator in the case.

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