By Mariel Clark
DNAinfo Reporter Producer
MANHATTAN — Lehman Brothers used accounting gimmicks to conceal the rapidly declining state of its finances as it spiralled towards bankruptcy, a report released Thursday showed.
The 2,200-page report, written by bank examiner Anton R. Valukas, referenced "materially misleading" financial maneuvers that Lehman Brothers used, the Times reported.
The document said Lehman moved $50 billion off of its balance sheet to conceal its dependence on borrowed money, according to NPR's Planet Money.
“It’s basically window-dressing,” a Lehman executive wrote in an email of one of the ways the bank tried to hide its cracks.
Another responded, “I see ... so it’s legally do-able but doesn’t look good when we actually do it? Does the rest of The Street do it? Also is that why we have so much BS [balance sheet] to Rates Europe?” the Times reported.
The first executive replied, “Yes, No and yes. :)” the paper reported.
In the report, Valukas said Lehman's former chief executive, Richard S. Fuld Jr., likely knew about the misleading maneuvers, calling him "at least grossly negligent" in the report, according to the Times.
The document suggested Lehman executives could be held responsible in civil lawsuits, though it did not say if any securities laws were broken.
The firm's collapse in September 2008 was the largest bankruptcy in the country's history, the Times said.
