Lehman Brothers Exhumed

Abstract

The demise of Lehman Brothers on 15th September 2008 brought the financial world within clasp of catastrophe. The autopsy concluded in March 2010 by Pathologist (Bankruptcy Examiner) Anton R Valukas attributed the cause of ‘death’ to erosion of confidence and lack of liquidity. Lehman’s collapse however is plagued by a plethora of challenging and provocative issues.

This Paper justifies the exhumation of the decuius to study accurately three major issues, namely, the extent of the impact that regulatory and deregulatory conditions have had on Lehman’s doom, of mapping the footprint of accounting and auditing responsibilities and for evidence that the demise might has been caused by an infarction of the neo-capitalist banking/business model. On the basis of the findings resulting from Lehman’s exhumation this Paper supports the thesis that notwithstanding the malaise afflicting Lehman, death was not the result of natural, accidental or suicidal causes but exhibits the clear and distinguishing hallmarks of business homicide.

Elsewhere, the Paper straddles Lehman’s contours by providing a qualitative profile of Lehman Brothers, traces and scrutinizes the origins of the sub-prime collapse and the events leading to this colossal bankruptcy, and depicts suspected perpetrators which may fit punctiliously with the subject’s predicament.