JPMorgan (JPM) Will Get Aggressive To Fend Off Lehman Suit

A senior bank official at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) had some not so kind words regarding the charges that it caused the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, according to FOX Business Networks' Charles Gasparino.

“We are going to be really f-----g aggressive with this case because this is a total waste of f-----g time!," the anonymous official at the bank said.

The remarks came a day after JPMorgan was sued by the collapsed Lehman Brothers, which went under in 2008 in a spark that set off the financial meltdown.

The lawsuit filed in a federal bankruptcy court in New York City alleges that top officials, including CEO Jamie Dimon, triggered the Lehman collapse by demanding collateral form the firm totaling $8.6 billion in September 2008.

The suit claims that JPMorgan acted a a "clearing bank," for other firms that had been lending money to Lehman during the final months of the firm’s existence. The lawsuit is looking for billions of dollars in damages.

According to Gasparino, JPMorgan is planning to fight the charges by putting Lehman’s former executives on trial, attempting to show how the firm used excessive leverage that inflated gains on market bets and losses when trades went wrong. JPMorgan will also attempt to show that Lehman inflated the value of assets that in the end were toxic.

Both of these practices are believed to be at the heart of Lehman's downfall.

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