Marubeni refuses to repay the money, claiming it is a victim of fraud itself.
He was dating the daughter of an executive at Marubeni, the giant trading company.
Japanese giants Marubeni, Mitsubishi and Tomen are partners in a consortium of firms searching for oil in Iran.
She recently roped in Marubeni, China Steel and Posco as strategic partners taking up 30% of the multibillion-dollar project.
In 2010, Marubeni acquired Chilean water firm Aguas Nuevas for an undisclosed price, while a consortium led by Mitsubishi Corp.
Sogo shosha Marubeni (No. 7) and Nissho Iwai (No. 10) grossed about 15% less, but managed to swing back into the black.
Good Energies, a private-equity firm in Zug, Switzerland, Marubeni, a trading company based in Tokyo, also own significant stakes in the consortium.
When Lehman contacted Marubeni after a payment was missed, Marubeni said that it had no idea what the bank was talking about.
As seen with Itochu and Marubeni above, the strategic target market for much Japanese acquisition is a growing and more prosperous Asia, particularly China.
Itochu, Sumitomo and Marubeni were gigantic in sales five years ago.
Marubeni says the two employees who negotiated the deal were fired.
Six months ago, Marubeni, a Japanese trading company whose bonds are rated as junk by Moody's, a rating agency, paid investors 6-7 percentage points more than top-quality borrowers.
Marubeni has claimed that contracts signed and stamped by a Marubeni director were found to be forgeries and the manager whom Lehman's bankers met in Marubeni's offices was an impostor.
Marubeni says it intends to become one of the top 10 players in the global water business, especially in emerging markets in Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
Marubeni, a Japanese commodity trader, signed an off-take agreement in early January with Canada Lithium where the Marubeni will distribute 2, 000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate for three years with an option to increase distribution to 5, 000 tons.
So it was that when a handful of bankers from Lehman Brothers met executives of Marubeni, one of Japan's largest trading houses, at Marubeni's headquarters across from the Imperial Palace last autumn, they never suspected that they were actually being drawn into a massive fraud.
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