Lehman boss: Firm was not bankrupt

Six years, seven months, and 13 days after Lehman Brothers Holdings filed for bankruptcy, its former chief executive, Richard Fuld Jr, is still insisting it did not go broke.

Lehman Brothers was more than 150 years old when it collapsed in September 2008 in the largest corporate bankruptcy in US history. Its failure was seen as a key trigger in the financial crisis. After Lehman imploded, inquiries showed that the company used accounting tricks to mask $50bn in debt, making it look like Lehman was in better shape than it really was.

“Lehman Brothers in 2008 was not a bankrupt company,” Fuld insisted at a conference in Manhattan, his first such public appearance since the financial crisis for which Lehman’s massive Chapter 11 filing marked a tipping point.