Shareholders of Washington Mutual want ‘pay off’ after bankruptcy

Shareholders of Washington Mutual Inc are demanding an independent investigation into the company's collapse in a move to get a "pay off," according to court documents.

Last week the bankruptcy court was asked by the shareholders to oversee Washington Mutual's Chapter 11 case to appoint an examiner to investigate the failure of the company's lending business and the value of legal claims stemming from it.

According to the company filing the request is a "desperate attempt by the equity committee to throw any and every allegation against the wall in the hope that something will stick.”

"Any investigation by an examiner would be wholly duplicative of the work done by the debtors, the official committee of unsecured creditors and other parties of interest over the past 19 months," said a filing by JPMorgan.

The case is In re Washington Mutual Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington), No. 08-12229.