TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Employees at Japanese trading house Marubeni perpetrated an elaborate con that fleeced Lehman Brothers of more than $355 million, the U.S. investment bank believes, and may have tripped up other financial institutions, according to a person briefed in the matter.

If Lehman's arguments are true, then Marubeni employees perpetrated one of the more sophisticated corporate con jobs since Enron set up a fake trading floor to impress analysts. Lehman believes the Marubeni employees' scam included forged documents and an imposter.

A person briefed in the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Lehman agreed to fund a partnership that would finance medical leases made by Marubeni. The bank believes Marubeni is now shirking its obligation to pay back the partnership, the person said.

A Marubeni spokesman said employees forged documents, and had been fired and reported to the police. The employees were contractors, he said, adding that there was "no involvement by Marubeni as a company."

One of Lehman's partners in the deal was Asclepius Ltd, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this month and is suspected of being involved in illegal dealings.

As far as I can tell, this story came out after the market closed on Friday, which means it is not yet priced into Lehman's stock.

Man am I running good :). Seems likely that this will lead to more glorious carnage on Monday! The entity that Lehman lent the money to (Asclepieus Ltd) filed for bankruptcy on March 19th. Dunno if it has any assets left, but if it was established as a fraud it seems unlikely to have been left with much.