WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which maintains a special reserve fund authorized by Congress to help investors at failed brokerage firms, issued the following statement today from James W. Giddens, Lehman Brothers Inc. (LBI) SIPA Trustee:

"James W. Giddens, the court-appointed trustee for the liquidation of the business of Lehman Brothers Inc. under the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA), has announced protocols that will be used to process claims for return of identifiable cash and securities held at the U.S. brokerage firm for prime brokerage accounts and for closing out and valuing certain other claims. These protocols were developed with input and cooperation from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and after discussion with clearing organizations and others. The protocols are posted on the Trustee's website, www.lehmantrustee.com.

The protocols outline the steps the Trustee intends to implement in an effort to seek to return fully-paid securities and cash to prime brokerage accounts where the property is available, free from liens and within the Trustee's jurisdiction. The protocols also cover the processing of such accounts with margin balance debits and short positions.

In general, other transactions that do not involve return of securities and that were not settled by September 23, 2008 will be closed out using the Bloomberg end of day closing price on September 19, 2008 (the filing date of the SIPC liquidation) or a commercially reasonable price. In cases where protocols have previously been established for claims values, such as SIFMA protocol 08-01, that protocol will be used.

The Trustee's objective continues to be to seek to return fully paid for, identifiable securities within his jurisdiction or control wherever legally possible. Property in the custody of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE) is not within the Trustee's control although the Trustee has been in contact with the Administrators of LBIE to discuss possible future cross-border protocols and cooperation. In addition, the Trustee's ability to return securities that were hypothecated before the filing date pursuant to repurchase agreements or other counterparty agreements may be limited. Requests for return of property will begin being processed this week in accordance with the protocols announced today.

The SIPC liquidation is being conducted under the jurisdiction of United States Bankruptcy Judge James M. Peck."

About SIPC

The Securities Investor Protection Corporation is the U.S. investor's first line of defense in the event a brokerage firm fails, owing customer cash and securities that are missing from customer accounts. SIPC either acts as trustee or works with an independent court-appointed trustee in a brokerage insolvency case to recover funds. The statute that created SIPC provides that customers of a failed brokerage firm receive all non-negotiable securities -- such as stocks or bonds -- that are already registered in their names or in the process of being registered. At the same time, funds from the SIPC reserve are available to satisfy the remaining claims of each customer up to a maximum of $500,000. This figure includes a maximum of $100,000 on claims for cash. From the time Congress created it in 1970 through December 2006, SIPC has advanced $505 million in order to make possible the recovery of $15.7 billion in assets for an estimated 626,000 investors.

For more information about SIPC, see "The Investor's Guide to Brokerage Firm Liquidations" at http://www.sipc.org/pdf/SIPC_brochure_Investors_Guide_To_BD_Liquidations.pdf.

SOURCE Securities Investor Protection Corporation, Washington, D.C.