Top Firm Accused Of Bringing Down Lehman

The Sunday Times reports that JPMorgan has been accused of forcing Lehman Brothers into liquidation by allegedly freezing some $17bn in cash and securities belonging to the Wall Street firm on the Friday night before its bankruptcy the following Monday.

The allegations surfaced in a filing at the bankruptcy court in New York. Documents say: 'The creditors' committee understands that LBHI (Lehman Brothers Holding Inc) had at least $17bn in excess assets which were held at JPMC (JPMorgan Chase) on the Friday going into the weekend before its bankruptcy filing. The creditors' committee further understands that, on September 12th, 2008, JPMC refused to allow LBHI access to its excess assets and instead 'froze' LBHI's account. In freezing LBHI's assets, JPMC was purportedly holding all of LBHI's assets as a potential offset against any claims JPMC may have had against LBHI'.

JPMorgan has denied the allegation, issuing a statement which said, in part: 'These assertions raised by the creditors panel are unfounded conjecture. We will address them at the appropriate time in the bankruptcy court'.

In the meantime, The Financial Times reports that Lehman held talks with the US Federal Reserve in July, in an attempt to convert to a traditional bank holding company (something subsequently granted to both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to allow the firms access to additional liquidity). The talks are said to have failed, however, as Lehman was apparently unable to convince the Fed of the viability of its survival plan. In the weeks leading up to its failure, Lehman held talks with Bank of America over a possible takeover, and also had discussions with Barclays, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Nomura about possible deals.

The Independent reports that according to Tony Lomas, the chairman of business restructuring at PricewaterhouseCoopers, who is responsible for winding down and selling Lehman's European assets, the wind-down of the Wall Street firm could take up to 10 years. Lomas said: 'Based on industry experience, including cases like Polly Peck, Enron, and Maxwell, it could take a decade or more to close this administration, not least because it threatens to become bigger and more complex than any of these previous cases'.

Finally, Financial News reports that Nomura is hoping to 'cherry-pick' up to 150 former Lehman European fixed income staff, after deciding against buying the whole shooting match (approx 750 staff). The Japanese bank is also thought to be acquiring Lehman's India back office operations, complete with the unit's 2,000 staff.

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