Baseball Media Watch: Lehman Brothers 'HOCKEY STICK' pitch led to decline--shareholder suit

Above now infamous Hockey Stick graph popularized by the Climategate unit. Mr. McIntyre's corrected data is the green overlay. graph via Volokh

2/5/10: "The irony is that the political momentum for a global climate change deal
peaked

just as Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers went bust in September 2008."...

Even today the hockey stick is used to beat US wage slaves, ordering them to cough up the largest transfer of wealth in history (as described by UK Guardian).

Therefore, if it's OK with you people rattling around in the UK and in a magazine headquartered there available for a fee, we're putting a stop to this as regards the United States. It's been easy for you so far, as we've had no leadership here for 20 years.
Lehman Brothers used the hockey stick as its top sales pitch, page 6 in its 2007 report, The Business of Climate Change.

2/6/08, Shareholders charged Lehman Bros. use of 'hockey stick' graph and other erroneous information on global warming harmed investors. Lehman itself produced a document in 2007 making certain conclusions about global warming that were relied on as fact by others.

Reuters: “Lehman Brothers says it wants to make money from global warming, but basic
information on which the firm relies and presents to shareholders is clearly
erroneous,” said Steve Milloy, portfolio manager of Action Fund Management (AFM), the FEAOX’s investment adviser.

“When a $34 billion company is touting misinformation as a basis for its
actions, it makes you wonder about the soundness of its business plan,” Milloy
added.

Lehman Brothers’ management uses the so-called “hockey stick” chart, for example, to support the notion that “the Earth’s mean temperature has risen sharply in recent decades.”(1)

But the hockey stick graph was scientifically discredited long before Lehman
issued its February 2007 report.(2)

“As shareholders, we expect that management will undertake reasonable due
diligence before undertaking action with corporate assets,” said AFM’s Tom
Borelli. “Corporate action and statements based on erroneous information may
not be ’sustainable’ for shareholders or the environment,” Borelli added.

“Lehman Brothers should also be concerned about potential legal liability for false and misleading statements,” said Milloy.

Based on the 2003 California case of Nike v. Kasky, citizens may sue
businesses over false or misleading statements.(3) The California Supreme
Court ruled that statements made on company websites are considered commercial
speech and therefore subjected to legal challenge.

“We think that Lehman is in way over its head when it comes to global warming and that management is recklessly risking shareholder value,” said Milloy.

“Shareholders will be looking for an explanation from CEO Richard Fuld”….

1. See Lehman's "The Business of Climate Change: Challenges and
Opportunities," p.6 (February 2007).

2. See e.g., U.S. Senate Committee on Environment
and Public Works,
"Inhofe Says NAS Report Reaffirms
'Hockey Stick' Is Broken" (June 22, 2006),
http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?id=257697&party=rep.

3. Kasky v. Nike, Inc., 27 Cal.4th 939, 947, 45 P.3d 243, 248, 119 Cal.Rptr.2d
296, 302 (Cal. 2002)

"SEC Denies Lehman Brothers Bid to Block Global Warming
Shareholder Proposal," 2/6/08, Reuters

Reference, 2/17/08: "A year ago they couldn’t predict their bankruptcy but were predicting the climate 100 years ahead. Thousands...have been using the Lehman report as a proof of global warming and impending chaos.