U.S. Bancorp of Minneapolis, acting as a trustee, filed claims of more than $12.4 billion in the bankruptcy case of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. -- the most of any large U.S. bank.
The eight biggest U.S. banks, including U.S. Bancorp and Bank of America Corp., filed more than $20.8 billion of claims, according to Lehman's bankruptcy claims administrator, Epiq Systems. Bank of America, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, is seeking to recover more than $5.2 billion. Morgan Stanley, which converted into a bank holding company less than a week after Lehman collapsed, is seeking at least $3 billion.
U.S. Bancorp officials said they filed the claims on behalf of corporate trust clients who invested in mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations and other instruments. U.S. Bancorp acted as the trustee in the cases.
U.S. Bancorp spokesman Steve Dale stressed that the $12.4 billion in claims did not represent any lending losses by the bank.
Creditors from sovereign wealth funds to sports teams submitted more than 16,000 claims against Lehman before a Sept. 22 deadline.
Lehman, once the fourth-largest investment bank, filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history by assets listed in the petition in September 2008. The New York-based company said it had $613 billion of total debts and $639 billion of assets.
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