Lehman seeks $10bn clawback in Barclays suit

Attorneys representing the estate of Lehman Brothers filed a lawsuit on Monday against Barclays Capital, seeking to claw back as much as $10bn (£5.9bn) that it claims was transferred to the UK bank last year in the frenzied days following Lehman’s bankruptcy.

The suit is the culmination of a one-year quest by Alvarez and Marsal, the consultancy hired by Lehman following its sudden bankruptcy filing in September 2008, to determine whether billions of dollars worth of assets were improperly transferred to Barclays when it negotiated a deal to acquire the remains of Lehman.

Less than a week after Lehman filed for bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008, Barclays received approval from the bankruptcy judge overseeing Lehman’s case to acquire the investment bank’s North American assets and its Manhattan headquarters for $1.75bn.

Alvarez and Marsal claims in the lawsuit that amendments to the preliminary contract approved by the bankruptcy judge created loopholes that ultimately facilitated the transfer of several billion in assets.

In approving the original contract, they claim, the court would have not been aware that the revised contract would allow for several billion dollars in additional assets to be transferred. To support their claim, Lehman’s executors state that Barclays transferred $45bn in cash to Lehman after the bankruptcy in return for $50bn in securities, with the understanding that Lehman would be able to reverse the transaction at a future date.

Barclays’ acquisition of Lehman’s assets has been widely regarded as a coup for the London bank. This year, Barclays reported a net gain of $4.2bn on the value of the assets it acquired through Lehman.

Barclays has not commented on the matter. Following previous legal actions by Alvarez and Marsal, the UK bank has maintained that the entire transaction was lawfully approved by the judge.