Fat cat bosses at Lehman Brothers blew £10million ($18 Million) on lavish meals and first class travel just a month before their bank collapsed.

Executives around the world ran up the massive bills on their exclusive corporate American Express cards.

Now the debts are unlikely to be paid and Amex staff fear the losses may lead to job cuts.

Some of the credit card bills include helicopter and limo rides in London and New York, slap-up meals at some of the finest restaurants in Europe and jollies at five-star hotels.

An American Express manager at the company's London office said: "It's absolutely disgraceful.

"Some of these people must have known their bank was in trouble but they continued to spend."

Amex spokeswoman Gail Wasserman said: "The figure could be around $18 million owed by Lehmans to American Express, mostly corporate credit card debt including plane tickets and restaurant bills.

"The bill used to be paid off every month, but last month's wasn't."

Here