SHOTLIST 1. Various of exterior of Lehman Brothers headquarters 2. Various of exterior of Marubeni Corporation headquarters 3. Various set ups of James Simms, correspondent for Dow Jones News Wires 4. SOUNDBITE: (English) James Simms, correspondent for Dow Jones News Wires: "Apparently they had official looking documents and a Japanese seal, you know personal seal of a Marubeni executive and they also had a meeting at the Marubeni headquarters so that apparently fooled them (Lehman Brothers) into believing that this was a proper deal but it's also apparent that Lehman didn't do proper due diligence on the companies that it was dealing with otherwise this would not have happened." 5. Various of exteriors of Tokyo District Court STORYLINE: Lehman Brothers filed a lawsuit against major Japanese trading company Marubeni on Monday, demanding 350 (m) million US dollars in an unfolding case of alleged massive fraud. Lehman Brothers Holdings Incorporated is seeking to recoup funding it provided to another Japanese company that the US bank says employees of Marubeni Corporation helped secure. A Lehman Brothers official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing policy, confirmed the lawsuit was filed in a Tokyo court. He said the lawsuit demands 35.2 (b) billion yen (350 (m) million US dollars). Other details were not immediately available. Marubeni has denied wrongdoing and says it has no obligation to repay the money. "Apparently they had official looking documents and a Japanese seal, you know personal seal of a Marubeni executive and they also had a meeting at the Marubeni headquarters so that apparently fooled them (Lehman Brothers) into believing that this was a proper deal," Dow Jones News Wires correspondent James Simms told AP Television in Tokyo on Monday. "But it's also apparent that Lehman didn't do proper due diligence on the companies that it was dealing with otherwise this would not have happened," added Simms. Marubeni Corporation stock tumbled 6.6 percent in Tokyo to close at 726 yen (7.26 US dollars) on Monday, on pessimism set off by the fraud allegations, which surfaced over the weekend. Lehman Brothers spokesman Matthew Russell said in a statement that there will be no financial impact on Lehman because of the merits of the lawsuit, appropriate reserves in the first quarter and insurance coverage. The alleged fraud is the latest challenge for Lehman amid the global credit crunch. The sudden collapse of Bear Stearns earlier added to the concerns that Lehman and other investment banks may also face liquidity problems. Tokyo-based Marubeni said in a statement the documents related to the funding were forged, and the transactions were not Marubeni's. Two former Marubeni employees were duped by the then president of a now bankrupt unit of LTT Bio-Pharma, a medical consulting company, the trading company said. Marubeni fired the two employees earlier this month after finding they had used an office meeting room illicitly. They had acted as individuals, not as Marubeni employees, the company said. Marubeni also said an internal investigation had found the two employees had not been directly involved in the document forgery. Both Lehman and Marubeni say they are cooperating fully with an investigation by the Japanese police. LTT Bio-Pharma denied involvement in fraud in a statement on Monday. It said it fired the president of the unit linked with the alleged fraud earlier this month. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/1d147865ea3ce204cdfaf2871c062f69 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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