Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Former federal prosecutor Anton Valukas was named to lead an independent investigation of the events leading to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s record bankruptcy and the claims creditors owed more than $613 billion may pursue.

Valukas, chairman of Chicago-based law firm Jenner & Block LLP, was named yesterday by U.S. Trustee Diana Adams, according to a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Valukas specializes in criminal law and business litigation, according to his firm’s Web site.

“The Lehman case needs sunshine from an independent and learned voice,” said Martin Bienenstock, the lawyer for Walt Disney Co. who filed the request for an examiner. “We are thrilled the U.S. Trustee moved so quickly and proposed a great lawyer from a great firm to serve as examiner.”

Valukas will join several other entities investigating what was formerly the fourth-largest investment bank. Lehman is the subject of criminal probes by U.S. attorneys in Brooklyn and Manhattan, as well as in Newark, New Jersey. James Giddens, the trustee liquidating Lehman’s brokerage, is conducting his own probe as required by the Securities Investor Protection Corp.

Valukas won’t have prosecutorial authority. He will compile a report for the court and any evidence he gathers may be shared with prosecutors and used in creditor lawsuits.

‘Numerous Investigations’

“I have led numerous investigations of Fortune 500 companies and large international corporations involving potential financial misconduct, accounting irregularities, ethical issues, and alleged corporate fraud,” Valukas said in an affidavit filed with the court today.

He didn’t immediately return a call and e-mail seeking further comment.

Valukas’s duties will include probing the events from Sept. 4 to Sept. 15 that may have caused Lehman to file the biggest bankruptcy in history. He will look into payments Lehman made to “insiders” and how the investment bank moved cash among units before it sought bankruptcy protection, court papers show.

“The pledging or granting of collateral security interest among” Lehman and bank lenders including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and others also will be probed, according to a Jan. 16 order by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck.

Lehman, based in New York, filed papers Jan. 8 saying it assented to an examiner being appointed. Chief Executive Officer Bryan Marsal has said the examiner will need to be “fiercely independent” and unafraid to take on anyone, “including the Federal Reserve.”

‘Fully Cooperate’

“Mr. Marsal and Lehman welcome the appointment of Mr. Valukas and will fully cooperate with him,” Lehman bankruptcy lawyer Harvey Miller said in an e-mail today.

Peck on Jan. 14 approved the request for an examiner by Burbank, California-based Disney, which claims Lehman owes it about $92 million. Bank of America, Harbinger Capital Partners Special Situations Fund LP and the U.S. Trustee’s office, the arm of the Justice Department that monitors bankruptcy cases, backed the request.

Bankruptcy law requires naming an examiner in any case where the appointment is in creditors’ interest and the bankrupt company’s unsecured debts are more than $5 million.

Some Lehman creditors said having an examiner would be too costly and duplicate efforts to uncover claims by the unsecured creditors committee and Giddens. Peck said Jan. 14 that the examiner would need to coordinate and use as much information as possible from Marsal and Giddens, while also agreeing to allow the examiner to hire financial advisers.

Enron Examiner

A report compiled by Neal Batson, the examiner in the Enron Corp. bankruptcy case, was considered key to a lawsuit filed by the energy trader’s creditors against banks including Citigroup. The bank last year settled with Enron creditors for $1.66 billion in cash and relinquished $4.25 billion in claims against Enron’s estate.

“As expensive as the Enron examiner was, he did a lot of digging and thinking to help other people understand how the Enron bankruptcy happened,” said Nancy Rapoport, a law professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and co-editor of a book on Enron.

Valukas was the U.S. Attorney in Chicago from 1985 to 1989 and was chief of the Justice Department’s special prosecutions division in 1974, according to court papers. He also served as special counsel to the City of Chicago investigating the city’s health care system and chairman of the Illinois Governor’s Task Force on Crime and Corrections.

Hollinger’s Radler

Former Hollinger International Inc. President David Radler, who testified for the government in the 2007 trial of former Chairman Conrad Black, is among Valukas’s clients. Radler was granted parole in December after serving 10 months of a 29-month jail term.

Valukas graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1965 and Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago in 1968. He became a partner at Chicago-based Jenner & Block in 1976.

The case is In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., 08-13555, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Scinta in New York bankruptcy court at cscinta@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 20, 2009 15:54 EST