Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (OTC: LEHMQ.PK) may be defunct in the banking world, but is still actively winding down operations for assets not sold to Barclays (NYSE: BCS) and other firms.
The firm has largely fell off the map since filing for bankruptcy, but it still has a Chief Executive, Bryan Marsal, working for the firm. During the month of July, Marsal charged the bankrupt firm $94,350 for 111 hours of work, according to a court filing.
Marsal charged Lehman at a rate of $850 per hour, a total of $244,375 for June, July, and August according to documents filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. According to the U.S. Census, the median household income for all of last year was just under $50,000. This egregious amount is likely going to add even more fuel to the fire of vitriol aimed at the Wall Street banks.
As hard as it may be to believe though, $850 per hour is near the going rate for any top consultant in the U.S. market, so these charges are not really outside the norm. What remains angering though to it’s former investors, and rightfully so, is that Lehman has turned out to be the most expensive bankruptcy in U.S. history, having paid its managers and lawyers about $1 billion in the two years since it filed for bankruptcy in September 2008.
Winding down the firm involves selling off any remaining assets, and trying to repay the creditors as much as possible. Last month, Marsal commented that he aimed to raise $57.5 billion for creditors within five years, cutting allowable claims against those funds to about $365 billion.
