Letter: Lehman accounting tricks possibly illegal

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By STEVENSON JACOBS

NEW YORK (AP) - A Lehman Brothers whistleblower warned his bosses that accounting gimmicks the bank used before its collapse may have been illegal, his lawyer said Friday.

Matthew Lee, a former Lehman senior vice president, was fired days after questioning the accounting tricks in a letter to his superiors, attorney Erwin Shustak said. Shustak gave a copy of the letter to The Associated Press.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. imploded in September 2008, becoming the biggest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. The collapse sent financial markets across the globe into a free-fall and prompted a massive bailout of the U.S. banking system.

An examiner appointed by the bankruptcy court said in a 2,200-page report last week that Lehman hid its debt and perilous financial condition by using an accounting gimmick called Repo 105. The report revealed Lee's warnings to the bank, though his letter makes public the first internal assessment of the legality of Lehman's bookkeeping.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20100320/D9EI6PC83.html

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In this Oct. 6, 2008 file photo, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Richard S. Fuld Jr., front center, is heckled by protesters as he leaves Capitol Hill in Washington after testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the collapse of Lehman Brothers. A report by U.S. bankruptcy-court examiner faults Lehman Brothers executives and auditor Ernst & Young for serious lapses that led to the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Will former CEO Richard Fuld be held accountable?(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, file)

[xchrom]

1. Recommend -- now let's see if we are really

A nation of laws.

[rfranklin]

2. Of course it was illegal, it's called fraud...

Now if someone just has the courage to pursue the perpetrators....

[DallasNE]

3. This Has The Look And Feel Of Enron

Will Ernest and Young go the way of Arthur Andersen? If not, why not.

[TheWatcher]

4. In other news, Water may be Wet.

[MisterP]

5. of course, it would be just as illegal to pursue them (or at least that's what I heard from the

bootlickers in '09 when not a single indictment for torture or torture policy was handed down)

[UpInArms]

6. it's way past time to start charging these criminal under the RICO act.

[SOS]

7. Enron accounting. Again.

How many times will these crooks get away with fraud?
How many trillions must be ripped off before this is stopped?

Considering the top 5 Lehman execs walked away with over $2 billion in cash, they have nothing to worry about.
Their $5,000 an hour lawyers will make everything go away.

[bnymellon sucks]

8. Banks Are Evil in the Purest Sense

Banks are evil. I found that out the hard way, espcially after working for one for ten years, and then to be fired due to my disability. If you want to see evil bankers go to:

http://www.bnymellon-lies.com/