Congress shocked as Lehman collapse details emerge

US Congress has heard that Lehman Brothers, days away from becoming the largest bankruptcy in US history, was pleading for a US rescue on one hand while steering millions in dollars to departing executives on the other.

The first hearing into what caused US financial markets to collapse last month, precipitating a $700bn (€518bn) bailout, opened with finger-pointing and glimpses into internal company documents from Lehman’s chaotic last hours.

Henry Waxman, a Democrat and chairman of the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the giant investment bank was “a company in which there was no accountability for failure”.

Lehman’s collapse set off a panic that within days had President George Bush and US treasury secretary Henry Paulson asking Congress to pass the rescue plan for the financial sector.