Exec: Ax Teacher for 'Sleazeball' Banker Slam

Oracle of Omaha missed message that may have saved Lehman Brothers

(NEWSER) - If Warren Buffett knew how to use his cell phone, the financial world might be in better shape, blogs Karen Tumulty of Time. Just before Lehman Brothers collapsed last year, a Barclays executive attempting to rescue the firm with an assist from Buffett left a message on the Oracle of Omaha's phone. Problem is, Buffett never got the message—until 10 months later, when he noticed the blinking indicator and asked his daughter to figure it out. More»

Paulson & Co. say cash was to 'facilitate orderly wind-down' of trades, but questions persist

(NEWSER) - After refusing to bail out Lehman Brothers, the Federal Reserve funneled $87 billion to a subsidiary through JPMorgan Chase on Sept. 15, then another $51 billion the next day. The feds say they aimed to “facilitate an orderly wind-down” of Lehman’s broker-dealer operations, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the New York Times, but their changing explanations, and other issues, continue to muddy the waters. More»

European workers, unsure of salaries, furious at payout

(NEWSER) - Some 10,000 New York Lehman Brothers employees will share bonus pay of $2.5 billion, sparking anger among the investment bank’s European workers and critics of unfair compensation in the imploding finance arena, the Independent reports. The money was arranged before Lehman declared bankruptcy. Lehman’s British staff, who are bracing for the loss of jobs or pay rates, called the bonus pay a “scandal.” More»

British bankruptcy administrators want cash returned, say probe might be warranted

(NEWSER) - An $8-billion transfer from Lehman Bros.' European headquarters to its New York headquarters on the day the firm declared bankruptcy is raising issues on both sides of the Atlantic. As the sale of Lehman's US operations to Barclays was approved Saturday, the administrators of the company's bankruptcy filing in Great Britain were demanding that the money be returned, reports the Wall Street Journal, saying it belongs to clients and employees. More»

(NEWSER) - Barclays will pick up the US capital-markets business of Lehman Bros. in a $2-billion deal worked out today that will go before a bankruptcy judge at 5pm and Lehman creditors shortly after that, the Wall Street Journal reports. Barclays backed away from buying all of Lehman over the weekend, but a deal was salvaged by Lehman's bankruptcy, which made it easier to leave "bad assets" at the holding company to be liquidated by the court. More»