Tuesday, October 14, 2008

The Fall of Lehman Conspiracy Quiz


Did Lehman Brothers fall in order to:

1) Keep the Bush brand from direct government bailout taint. Jeb and cousin George Herbert Walker worked for Lehman. The move preserves their potential bonuses.

2) Knock down the house of cards known as America's financial system, so private equity and foreign sovereign wealth funds could pick through their carcasses.

3) Inspire the latest Jewish conspiracy theory, that $400 billion of Lehman's funds were sent to Israel the night before the investment bank declared bankruptcy.

4) Turn CEO Dick Fuld into the evil Mr. Henry F. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life

5) All of the above

6) None of the above

There is no correct answer! That's the problem with conspiracy theories. They're terribly difficult to investigate.

Take #3. Dealbook reported:

Lehman Brothers is opposing its creditors’ request for documents related to the investment bank’s operations before its bankruptcy filing, saying that the demands are inappropriate and oppressive, according to court documents.

Creditors, including Harbinger Capital Master Fund and Wells Fargo, had sought permission from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York to conduct depositions and access documents saying there had been no disclosure of how cash was distributed before the bankruptcy filing, among other complaints.

But in court documents filed on Sunday, Lehman Brothers Holdings said that the demands were “inappropriate” and would unduly burden the company.

Lehman asked the court to deny the motion.

Shazaam!