Company profile
- Industry
- Financial services
- Founded
- 1850
- Headquarters
- New York City, United States
- Ownership
- Defunct; filed for bankruptcy in 2008
Profiles are auto-generated and infrequently updated.
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The analyses
The Crisis Response · Crisis & Reinvention
Lehman Hid Leverage Past 30:1, Rejected Every Off-Ramp, and Sank Under $619 Billion in Debt
Lehman is remembered for one terrible weekend. But the real story is a multi-year plan to hide leverage past 30:1, reject every off-ramp, and then file the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history — $619 billion in debt — while still cutting executive checks.
8 min
The Cover-Up · Crisis & Reinvention
Lehman's Deeper Fiction Was the Cash: $41 Billion Claimed, $2 Billion Real
Lehman moved roughly $50 billion off its books each quarter-end to look less reckless. But the real fiction was the cash: a claimed $41 billion in liquidity that was actually $2 billion when the firm needed it. The accounting bought optics, not survival.
8 min