Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers' 2008 bankruptcy, with $639 billion in assets, was the largest in US history—nearly double the collapse of Enron. The 158-year-old investment bank's overexposure to subprime mortgages triggered the global financial crisis, freezing credit markets and costing 8.7 million US jobs. Unlike Enron's fraud-driven implosion, Lehman's failure stemmed from systemic leverage and triggered $700 billion in government bailouts for other institutions. No executives faced criminal charges, contrasting sharply with Enron's 24-year sentence for its CEO. Lehman's $639 billion asset wipeout remains a stark benchmark for financial contagion.