Bankruptcy Judge Bombshell: I Never Approved The Sale Of Lehman To Barclays

Lehman may finally have found someone who will stand behind its argument that it was treated unfairly in its firesale and is owed billions of dollars.

Lehman execs have been somewhat successful in convincing Judge Peck, who will decide in January or February whether or not Lehman is owed money from Barclays, that he can overturn the final sale of Lehman to Barclays.

From Bloomberg:

“Let me be clear about one thing, Mr. Boies,” Peck told Barclays’ lawyer David Boies. “I never approved the clarification letter.”

Now Peck says that because Barclays got an extra $11 billion from Lehman, and he never knew about it, he never approved the final sale.

From Bloomberg:

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck said he never approved final documents for the sale of bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s brokerage to Barclays Plc.

The result could be that Peck overturns his original approval of the sale (on September 20, 2008), potentially so that it is determined null and void.

But that probably won't happen, according to another bankruptcy judge who spoke to Bloomberg.

Peck will be reluctant to overturn his entire sale order for “bankruptcy policy reasons."