JPMorgan Chase & Co. prevailed in an $8.6 billion lawsuit brought on behalf of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. creditors who said that the bank abused its power by draining Lehman of critical liquidity in its final days, precipitating the global financial crisis, Reuters reported yesterday. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan rejected claims that JPMorgan exploited its "life or death" leverage as Lehman's main "clearing" bank to extract billions of dollars of collateral just before Lehman went bankrupt on Sept. 15, 2008. Creditors said that JPMorgan had no need for this despite volatile markets and extracted a windfall at their expense. But the judge said JPMorgan was entitled to demand collateral to secure Lehman's obligations and did not defraud Lehman into providing it. He also said that JPMorgan had no contractual obligation to extend credit to keep Lehman alive.
