From Greg Stohr, Bloomberg
Barclays is entitled to $4-billion in assets stemming from the Lehman Brothers Holdings collapse as the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the bankruptcy trustee for the firm’s brokerage business.
The justices left in tact a federal appeals court ruling that said Barclays acquired the assets as part of the hastily drafted purchase agreement in September 2008. Barclays bought most of Lehman’s North American brokerage assets in that deal.
The trustee, James Giddens, sought to recoup the money, most of which is already in Barclays’ possession.
In his appeal, Giddens said lawyers for both sides had told a bankruptcy judge that London-based Barclays wouldn’t receive any cash in the deal. He also said the appeals court gave too much weight to a clarification letter the two sides drafted.
The appeals court said the disputed property – margin assets that Lehman had posted at various institutions – didn’t constitute cash.
The bankruptcy judge in the case, James Peck, at one point said Barclays had to give the money back. That ruling was overturned by a federal trial judge.
