Leman Brothers liquidated brokerage unit in 14 years

The liquidation of Lehman Brothers' brokerage unit ended in 14 years and 13 days after its parent's bankruptcy helped trigger a market freefall and global financial crisis.

The trustee who oversees the brokerage's liquidation and his law firm was awarded final payments on Wednesday by US Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman in Manhattan. More than $115 billion was paid out.

Lehman's 111,000 customers received all of the $106 billion they were owed, and secured creditors received full payouts.

Unsecured creditors recovered $9.4 billion, or about 41 cents, on the dollar. They were originally expected to recover about 20 cents on the dollar.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, the brokerage's parent, had been Wall Street's fourth largest investment bank before filing what remains the largest U.S. bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008.

Its collapse resulted in a lot of debate about whether and in what circumstances companies should fail.

Barclays Plc bought most of Lehman's U.S. brokerage assets early in the financial crisis. The bankruptcy plan for Chapter 11 was confirmed in 2011 by the parent.

A failure of a large financial institution should be avoided, but history tells us that it is inevitable, according to James Giddens, the brokerage's trustee.

The lawyers firm of Hughes Hubbard Reed received $424 million as final compensation for 14 years of work on the case.