Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, the investment bank liquidating in bankruptcy, paid its lawyers and other advisers $641.9 million in 16 months since September 2008, according to a regulatory filing.
The restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal LLC, which provided Lehman with its current Chief Executive Officer Bryan Marsal, led the payments with $233 million in fees for “interim management” through January, according to the filing yesterday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP of New York collected $149.5 million for acting as the investment bank’s lead bankruptcy law firm. Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP got $42.4 million for advising Lehman’s creditors’ committee.
Lehman and its affiliates reported cash holdings of $17.6 billion on January 31, an increase from $17.2 billion a month earlier.
Lehman, once the world’s fourth-biggest investment bank, is liquidating in bankruptcy to pay creditors. Its payments to advisers haven’t faced major challenges such as those in the case of bankrupt automaker Chrysler LLC, which is using US Treasury loans to wind itself down.
Lehman filed the biggest US bankruptcy in September 2008 with assets of $639 billion. Creditors include UBS AG, the New York Giants and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as well as individuals who hold Lehman bonds.
