BIG BOOST FOR BARCLAYS IN $5BN LAWSUIT

Lehman Brothers Holdings, acting for the creditors, is claiming the British bank gained a “windfall” of securities and assets improperly transferred to Barclays after it bought the US bank’s dealing and broking business after it collapsed. The case is due to start next month.

But the report found only $10million worth of customer information, telephones and computers were “improperly transferred” to Barclays, not the billions claimed, and that this had happened inadvertently following Lehman’s demise.

The report warned the cost of recovering the communications and computer equipment may outstrip its actual value. It found no evidence that other assets had been improperly transferred, although the report’s author offered no comment on the matters under dispute.

Lehman Brothers Holdings said in its action that executives involved in the sale to Barclays had “personal financial interests in the outcomes of those negotiations”. But in the report, Lehman’s adviser Lazard said the negotiations were at “arm’s length” and “vigorous”.