LEHMAN BROTHERS CASE

Lykourezos Law Offices, after lengthy and complex negotiations with banks and credit institutions that had distributed LEHMAN BROTHERS financial products to investors in the Greek market, succeeded in negotiating the largest settlement for its clients.

We were able to broker an agreement whereby our clients were paid 70% of the amount they had invested in products of the failed company. This payout is the largest achieved globally and was paid to our client-investors by a foreign bank that had distributed LEHMAN BROTHERS financial products operating through its branch office in Greece.  In similar negotiated settlements, the settlement amounts paid out ranged at 50-55% of the amount invested, save in Belgium where investors were compensated with 65% of the investment including court costs.

Brief Synopsis

The collapse of one of the largest US investment banks, LEHMAN BROTHERS, greatly impacted the global banking and financial system and its adverse ramifications were also felt in the Greek market. LEHMAN BROTHERS TREASURY Co. B.V., the Dutch subsidiary of the US bank, had issued guaranteed titles or protected capital, which had been distributed to Greek investors through the private banking departments of various Greek banks and lawfully established foreign credit institutions operating in Greece.  These titles had been expressly and irrevocably guaranteed by the parent company, LEHMAN BROTHERS HOLDINGS Inc.  The parent company and its subsidiaries’ involvement in bankruptcy proceedings resulted in investors’ losing the entirety of the capital they had invested.
LEHMAN BROTHERS HOLDINGS Inc. filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and was followed by its Dutch subsidiary, LEHMAN BROTHERS TREASURY Co. B.V. , on September 19, 2008 which suspended its payments to its creditors (surseance van betaling) pursuant to Article 214 of the Dutch Bankruptcy Code and which was declared bankrupt on October 8, 2008.
Following these developments a number of Greek investors came to our office collectively, seeking redress.  Lykourezos Law Offices, created a “class” of injured investors filing claims before the competent Administrative and Court authorities.  Civil actions were filed under Greek law against the banks and credit institutions that had distributed the LEHMAN BROTHERS products for breach of contract as they had failed to appropriately inform their clients in violation of both Greek and European law.  Our offices also intervened on our clients’ behalf in foreign bankruptcy proceedings for payment of our clients’ claims from the bankruptcy estate.  Negotiations were conducted and we were able to secure the largest settlement for our clients who invested in Lehman Brothers products.