JPMorgan Clearing Deal Will Return $800 Million to Lehman Estate

Lehman's bankruptcy filing in September 2008 helped spark a credit crisis that plunged the nation into its deepest recession since the Great Depression.

The trustees for Lehman's brokerage are operating under the Securities Investor Protection Act, which was designed to protect customers of broker-dealers that fail.

Under that law, court-appointed lawyers seek to recover assets for a failed company's estate by bringing actions against those who are believed to owe the company money. The lawyers then seek to divide the assets fairly between customers of the failed company.

The trustee for Lehman Brothers Inc. called the JPMorgan settlement a "milestone" in his efforts.

"The agreement will increase funds held by the LBI Estate available for distribution to public customers of LBI by more than $800million in cash and securities and is a direct result of cooperation and professionalism by both parties in working through complex and difficult issues," SIPA trustee James Giddens said in a statement.