An Australian Judge ruled that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s Australian unit is liable for losses three towns incurred from buying failed securities, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Grange Securities Ltd., which was bought by Lehman, invested the towns’ money in securities whose value collapsed along with the U.S. housing market. The synthetic collateralized debt obligations (SCDOs) in 2008 played a role in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, as world-wide credit froze and the $330 billion market for auction-rate securities collapsed. The three Australian towns that invested A$37.3 million ($39 million) in the securities sold by Grange sued in 2009 to recover their losses.
