Anton “Tony” Valukas on the demise of Lehman Brothers

09/14/23 • 49 min

Re-Examination: Conversations with the storytellers behind legal history

In episode one of Re-Examination, senior Jenner & Block partner Anton “Tony” Valukas explains how he approached telling one of the most consequential and complicated stories of our time: the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Once the world’s fourth largest investment bank, Lehman filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008. Its collapse contributed to the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1929.

Appointed examiner by the judge overseeing Lehman’s bankruptcy, Tony was tasked with explaining how an investment bank that had reported record revenues of nearly $60 billion less than eight months before fell so swiftly.
In the end, Tony and his Jenner & Block colleagues filed a nine-volume, 2,200-page account known as the Valukas report that became the definitive account of Lehman’s fall and set a new standard for investigating corporate failure.

In conversation with Infinite Global Head Writer Andrew Longstreth and M Coffey founder Murray Coffey, Valukas discusses his approach to producing the Valukas report, which was noted as much for its unimpeachable veracity as its illuminating use of storytelling.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Once the world’s fourth largest investment bank, Lehman filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008. Its collapse contributed to the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1929.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Next Episode

Behind the historic opioid litigation with Paul Geller

In the second episode of Re-Examination, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd founding partner Paul Geller shares the inside story of how a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers, and states, counties, municipalities and even school districts banded together to secure more than $50 billion in settlements over the opioid crisis.

Among those who have paid for what has been called “one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine” are the thousands of communities that have been left to pick up the tab for everything from constant emergency room visits to expensive addiction treatments to the cleanup of degraded public areas like parks, sidewalks and libraries.

For the last six years, a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers and state attorneys general have sought to make pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies pay up. They have filed hundreds of lawsuits alleging they made misleading statements about the risks of opioid use and failed to execute safety protocols.

Paul Geller is one of the attorneys appointed by a federal judge to lead the case. In conversation with Infinite Global Head Writer Andrew Longstreth and M Coffey founder Murray Coffey, Paul explains how he and his colleagues approached telling the story of this national tragedy that left no defendant off the hook.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Re-Examination: Conversations with the storytellers behind legal history - Anton “Tony” Valukas on the demise of Lehman Brothers

Transcript

[00:00:00] Tony Valukas: It was a presentation to the world about what had happened. It had to be written differently. It had to be written in a way that there could be no question. There wasn't a piece of advocacy here. It was a piece of truth-telling.

[00:00:24] Andrew Longstreth: On Monday, September 15th, 2008, Lehman Brothers, the world's fourth-largest investment bank, filed for bankruptcy. The Chapter 11 petition, which listed more than $600 billi