Lehman Brothers Australia Wants Federal Court to Approve $248M Settlement Payment Plan to Creditors

The liquidators of Lehman Brothers Australia want the Federal Court there to approve their plan that would allow the bank to pay $248M in securities losses that were sustained by 72 local charities, councils, private investors, and churches. Although the court held Lehman liable, no compensation has been issued because the financial firm went bankrupt.

Per that ruling, the Federal Court found that Lehman’s Australian arm misled customers during the sale of synthetic collateralized debt obligations. The court also said that Lehman Brothers subsidiary Grange Securities was in breach of its fiduciary duty and took part in deceptive and misleading behavior when it put the very complex CDOs in the councils’ portfolio. (Lehman had acquired Grange Securities and Grange Asset Management in early 2007, thereby also taking charge of managing current and past relationships, including the asset management and transactional services for the councils.) The court determined that the council clients’ “commercial naivety” in getting into these complex transactions were to Grange’s advantage.

Via the liquidators’ plan, creditors would get a portion of a $211 million payout. This is much more than the $43 million that Lehman had offered to pay. The payout would include $45 million from American professional indemnity insurers to Lehman, which would then disburse the funds to those it owes.

If the Federal Court approves the settlement, IMF will dismiss a class action securities case against Lehman.

Securities Fraud
Brokerage firms are not supposed to get unsophisticated or conservative investors involved in high risk, complex investments, even if the customers are institutions and not individuals. When doing so results in investment losses, there may be grounds for an institutional investment fraud case.

Lehman Seeks Australian Court Approval for Vote on Settlement, Bloomberg, April 14, 2013

Understanding the Federal Court’s landmark ruling against Lehman Brothers, The Conversation, September 24, 2012

More Blog Posts:
FINRA Orders UBS Financial Services to Pay $8.25M for Misleading Investors About Security of Lehman Brothers Principal Protected Notes, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, April 15, 2011

Lehman Brothers Australia Found Liable in CDO Losses of 72 Councils, Charities, and Churches, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, September 25, 2012