The Lehman Brothers findings have surprised even the experts.

It took the examiner appointed by the court a year to compile his report on the collapse of Lehman. Wall Street officials and government officials have been expecting it to give an account of the biggest bankruptcy in the history of America. The report made readers rivet their attention on it and browse through details running into nine volumes comprising of 2,200 pages. Almost at once swaths of questions were raised. The government regulators now have a chartered course for initiating further inquires into the previous executives of Lehman including Richard S. Fuld Jr. and the auditing company Ernst & Young. It is however not clear as yet if the Department of Justice and SEC would get down to the reality of taking their own legal steps. But experts in the line say that Anton R, Valukas, an examiner, has released plenty of material for civil regulatory steps to be taken. He has referred to materially misleading ways of accounting and actionable balance sheet manipulation. Michael J. Missal of K&L Gates, a legal firm said, Its certainly not helpful to any of them. It certainly assists private litigants and probably increases the pressure on the government to take some kind of action here. K&L Gates has been looking into the New Century Financial bankruptcy case. SEC representatives and attorney offices of Manhattan and Brooklyn did not make any comments. Fuld and other top brass of Lehman are defendants already in a good number of civil suits. But the new finding of Valukas has made even veterans surprised. One of the prime revelations was the aggressive accounting operations (Repo 15) that made it possible for this investment bank to cover up the real depths of its financial troubles. The Justice Department appoints examiners for bankruptcy cases to find out the validity of accusations made regarding improper operations and functioning. The job of the examiners is to find out if the creditors can recoup more of their losses. The findings of the examiners act as guidelines for more legal suits and even further regulatory operations. But the examiners are only to find and place facts they are not to take on the role of either judge or jury.