Lehman liquidators fight $50bn bank claims

[Robbien]

Source: Financial Times

Lehman Brothers' US liquidators are to press banks seeking more than $50bn from the failed Wall Street lender to cut their claims sharply or face having to go to court to settle the issue. The move comes amid an escalating dispute over the value of derivatives trades.

. . .

Other creditors of Lehman have complained that, despite the banks' claims, none of them admitted having material exposure to Lehman or took any losses related to the derivatives trades.

Bank executives said that after taking hedges into account, their exposure was insignificant.

The banks, which include Wall Street institutions such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch and overseas rivals Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, argue that Lehman's failure in September 2008 forced them to replace thousands of derivatives trades at the cost of billions of dollars.

. . .

Lehman Brothers Holdings' figures show that, the day before Lehman filed for bankruptcy, the company was actually owed money from its derivatives counter-parties. However, following the bankruptcy, the banks filed claims for a total of $51bn.



Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b4a5b886-183b-11df-9256-00144feab49a.html

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Banksters told press there is no exposure.
Banksters did not take losses on their books.
Lehman's books show no exposure.

But still Banksters want $51 billion.

Sounds about right.

[DJ13]

1. I wonder if the Treasury covering AIG's CDS's with Goldman set a precedent

[Demeter]

2. Only in the Minds of the Banksters

Precedent is a legal term. There wasn't anything particularly "legal"
about the bailouts. Probably just the opposite of legal.