Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis — and Themselves

by Andrew Ross Sorkin

At the end of every quarter, Lehman’s government securities business would “sell” securities to a counterparty in exchange for cash, which they’d use to pay down debt. But days after the quarter ended, Lehman would turn around and take the securities back onto their balance sheet and return the cash.