Court approves Lehman plan to exit bankruptcy

The company had $639 billion in assets when it went bankrupt. Some of that money was returned to brokerage customers in a separate proceeding. There remains $65 billion to be returned to creditors who have $450 billion in claims, a group that includes debt investors and trading partners from before the bankruptcy, like Goldman Sachs.

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While Lehman winds down, it will continue to manage its holdings in real estate company Archstone, banks, asset manager Neuberger Berman and private equity.

Looking back to the long day that began on September 14, 2008, and continued into the bankruptcy filing the next day, Lehman's lead lawyer, Harvey Miller of Weil Gotshal & Manges, remembered how the meltdown started.

"I see the chaos, the confusion and the distress on the faces of hundreds of Lehman employees flooding into the enterprise's headquarters at 745 Seventh Avenue in their attempt to gather their belongings before a potential lock-down

of the building," Miller told the court.

UNWINDING

At the time of the bankruptcy, Lehman was an international company with businesses and employees around the globe. Many of Lehman's 25,000 employees were saved by asset sales but thousands still lost their jobs. In the end, 23 different Lehman companies were included in the bankruptcy proceedings.

In bankruptcy, Lehman sold many of its assets, from valuable artwork to complex Wall Street securities; achieved settlements with creditors, investors and trading partners; and exited real estate leases like its Canary Wharf building in London and sold buildings.

The bankruptcy has been tumultuous, with lawsuits creating sideshows to the already complicated business of unwinding and valuing securities such as credit derivative swaps.

One of those legal cases put Lehman and Barclays executives on the witness stand to determine if the deal struck selling Lehman's bank to Barclays was fair.