Lehman creditors seek documents from JPMorgan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc creditors are asking a U.S. judge to allow them to conduct depositions and access documents from JPMorgan Chase & Co, claiming JPMorgan prevented Lehman from accessing $17 billion in assets on the eve of its bankruptcy filing.

In court documents filed late last week, a group of unsecured creditors claimed that JPMorgan refused to let Lehman access assets and instead froze Lehman's account, triggering a liquidity crisis that led to the 158-year-old investment bank's collapse.

"(JPMorgan's) refusal to make those assets available to (Lehman) and its subsidiaries in the days leading up to (Lehman's) bankruptcy filing may have contributed to Lehman's liquidity constraints," the creditors said in the court documents.

A lawyer for JPMorgan, however, disputed the $17 billion figure and said that JPMorgan had provided $87 billion in cash to facilitate trading at Lehman in the early days of its bankruptcy.

"To say that somehow JPMorgan was inhibiting the liquidity just is not consistent with the facts," said Harold Novikoff, a lawyer representing JPMorgan in the case.

The creditor's committee said it believes had JPMorgan not taken those actions, Lehman's liquidity problems could have been averted.

Lehman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors Sep. 15, in the largest U.S. bankruptcy filing ever.

Barclays Capital subsequently bought Lehman's core North American capital markets business, and other units are being sold off to other parties.

JPMorgan has played a key role in the case since day one, as the firm regularly advanced billions to Lehman units to help clear and facilitate securities transactions with customers and clients of Lehman.

The creditors said in the court filing that JPMorgan held the $17 billion in excess assets as collateral, due to its role in providing cash advances to Lehman to fund overnight repurchase agreements.

JPMorgan does not think that $17 billion is a "correct valuation" of the assets, Novikoff said. Novikoff said the figure overstates the amount of assets held, and appears to value some asset-backed commercial paper and collateralized loan obligations at face value when their market value is much lower.

The bankruptcy court is scheduled to have a hearing on the creditor's request next week.

(Reporting by Emily Chasan; Editing by Bernard Orr)