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Lehman Urges Court To Unseal Details Of Barclays Sale Probe
David McLaughlin
https://www.fis.dowjones.com/Login.aspx


September 28, 2009
Daily Bankruptcy Review

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and its creditors are ratcheting up their fight with Barclays PLC over Lehman's sale to the British bank, pushing to make public new details that Barclays wants to keep secret.


Lehman and its creditors, who claim Barclays pocketed a massive windfall from the sale, say Barclays is going too far in demanding that documents and depositions about the deal be kept from public view.

"Barclays has misused the provisions of the confidentiality order to seal virtually the entire record," Lehman's lawyers said in court papers.

The accusations come after Lehman and creditors unveiled earlier this month the results of their investigation into the sale of Lehman's broker-dealer business to Barclays days after Lehman filed for bankruptcy.

They are asking a New York bankruptcy judge to revisit the deal and order Barclays to return what they say are billions of dollars in excess assets that the British bank received.

The lengthy court documents backing up their findings were heavily redacted because much of the information stemmed from documents and testimony by ex-Lehman employees that Barclays deemed confidential.

Lehman and the committee representing unsecured creditors are now asking a judge for permission to make public the redacted sections of their court filings describing their findings. They say Barclays has no right to keep the information secret.

"Keeping the motions sealed will harm both the creditors in these cases and the public at large," lawyers for the creditors committee said.

A spokesman for Barclays couldn't be reached for comment.

Lehman says Barclays received at least $8.2 billion in excess assets, including an undisclosed $5 billion discount off the book value of securities transferred to Barclays and $2.7 billion in additional assets that also weren't disclosed to the judge who approved the sale.


Document DJFDBR0020090928e59s000dx
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