Lehman reclama 5.000 millones de dólares de daños y perjuicios a JP Morgan

Bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ.PK) has reportedly on Wednesday sued JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) for siphoning off billions of dollars in the final days of its bankruptcy filing when it could have used the funds for an orderly closure. JPMorgan acted as the main clearing bank for Lehman for dealings with lenders, investors and other parties.

Lehman claims in its lawsuit that J.P. Morgan took advantage of the inside knowledge of Lehman's financial position and alleged coerced it to pay $8.6 billion in collateral to cover its risks in September 2008, with about $5.0 billion demanded on the last day of operations. This triggered a liquidity crunch that contributed to Lehman's immediate collapse.

Through the lawsuit Lehman is hoping to recoup the billions paid as collateral and billions in other damages. However, JPMorgan has reportedly defended itself and said it will vigorously defend the lawsuit which it called as ill-conceived and meritless.

In March, Lehman reportedly renewed its bid to have a federal judge revisit Barclays Plc's (BCS, BARC.L) purchase of its U.S. operations days after the investment bank collapsed into bankruptcy, claiming Barclays secretly pocketed billions of dollars in assets without telling the court.

Lehman was seeking a total of $11 billion from Barclays, including a $5 billion "windfall" allegedly gained by Barclays when it bought Lehman's North American brokerage in September 2008, a gain Lehman says was the result an undisclosed "asset grab" that wasn't disclosed to the bankruptcy judge who approved the sale.

Earlier in March, Lehman unveiled its plan to repay tens of thousands of creditors that are demanding about $875 billion from the failed investment bank after the 18-month period under the federal bankruptcy rules to file a reorganization plan with a court expired. The plan marks the beginning of the Lehman estate's efforts to end the largest bankruptcy in American history.

Lehman's initial proposal, which reportedly lacks many details, involves the creation a newly created business called LAMCO that would serve as an asset-management adviser for the estate. It would oversee the commercial real estate, mortgages, private equity and other remaining assets and sell them off to generate proceeds for Lehman creditors.

Lehman, once the fourth-largest investment bank, filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. corporate history in September 2008, listing assets of $639 billion and $613 billion in debt in a petition.

LEHMQ.PK closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $0.08, up 2.44% on a volume of 0.89 million shares, sharply lower than the three-month average volume of 8.34 million shares.

Fuente original:
RTTNews 25/05/2010