Lehman committee asks court to steer examiner away from duplicating asset sale investigation

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, July 2 - Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc.'s official committee of unsecured creditors has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to force the examiner investigating the company to comply with the parameters established in the examination order, according to a Wednesday filing.

According to the motion, many interested parties, including Lehman and the committee "carefully crafted the scope of the examiner order to minimize duplication of investigative efforts already being undertaken by the debtors, the committee and the trustee administering the estate of Lehman Brothers Inc."

The committee said outlining the specific scope of the examiner's investigation was particularly important in connection with potential claims arising from the sale of the company's North American broker-dealer assets because several parties, including the committee, were already conducting their own comprehensive investigations of the sale.

However, the committee said the examiner indicated at a June 24 hearing that he is conducting a comprehensive investigation of all aspects of the sale, "without regard to whether such aspects were expressly excluded from his mandate."

As a result, the committee asked the court to order the examiner to comply with the order, arguing that its constituents "will be paying for any inefficiency and overlap in the investigation process."

A hearing is scheduled for July 15.

New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States. The company filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008. Its Chapter 11 case number is 08-13555.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.