SECURITIES

Chinese Securities Firm Countersues Lehman Bros.: The New York-based division of Lehman Bros. Holding Inc. is being sued for $128 million by Minmetals International Non-Ferrous Metals Trading Co., a unit of China National Metals & Minerals Import & Export Corp. Lehman filed suit in November against Minmetals after it failed to repay $52.5 million in losses on currency options and interest rate swaps. In the counterclaim, Minmetals said Lehman “induced” an unqualified employee to make trades that were “impossible for him to understand,” including Turkish and Mexican government bonds and a slew of European and Asian currencies. The trades were never authorized by the trader’s superiors, Minmetals said in its suit.