NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - The trustee liquidating LehmanBrothers Holdings Inc's brokerage unit on Monday asked a federalbankruptcy judge for permission to distribute another $1.89billion to unsecured creditors, boosting their total recovery to$7.78 billion.
James Giddens, the trustee, said the creditors will haverecouped 35 cents on the dollar, up from 27 cents so far, if theproposed third payout wins approval from U.S. Bankruptcy JudgeShelley Chapman at an August 4 hearing in Manhattan.
"This result, in the largest broker-dealer insolvency inhistory, could not have been anticipated in the dark days of thefinancial crisis when this liquidation began," Giddens said in acourt filing.
Lehman had been Wall Street's fourth-largest investment bankbefore seeking Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 15, 2008.
Roughly 111,000 former customers of the brokerage havealready been paid more than $106 billion, and senior creditorshave also been paid in full.
Giddens said the latest payout includes $1.18 billion thathe had held in reserve.
He said this included $583 million for disputes overBarclays Plc's hurried purchase of much of thebrokerage unit a few days after the bankruptcy filing. Thosedisputes were settled on June 5.
The case is In re: Lehman Brothers Inc, U.S. BankruptcyCourt, Southern District of New York, No. 08-01420. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing byChristian Plumb)