Lehman Brothers Holdings warns against 'unreasonable' claims

LONDON: A top executive, who is overseeing the unwinding of Lehman Brothers has warned that entities making unreasonable claims against the bankrupt Wall Street major will be forced to prove their case in public courts, a news report has said.

Lehman Brothers Holdings chief executive Bryan Marsal, who is responsible for maximising recoveries to all creditors, has warned big banks, which are looking to make "windfall profits" by making "outrageously unreasonable" claims against Lehman Brothers' American business.

Quoting Marsal, UK daily The Financial Times said such entities would be forced to prove their case in public courts.

According to the report, he was planning to make an example of big banks seeking to claim more than they should on billions of dollars of losses linked to trades in derivatives.

"We are going to go after the outliers... We plan to bring these claimants in front of the judge to argue why this claim is not warranted and by doing so persuade the other claimants to be more reasonable," Marsal was quoted as saying.

The daily noted Marsal and his team are expected to focus this year on resolving over the $800 billion of claims for losses that have been made against the US estate of Lehman.

"Those claims linked to derivatives are expected to pose the biggest challenge to unwind...," it added.