MF Global.......

[lakedaemonian]

Re: MF Global.......

I know very little of the MF Global mess as I'm too busy with family, work, and keeping up to speed with all the other stuff relevant to our family's financial future.

But I have one quite serious question:

Do I even need to know anything beyond the fact that John Corzine was CEO of Goldman, US Senator, and New Jersey Governor to predict with some accuracy that he will not be punished or deterred for his part in this crisis?

[vt]

Re: MF Global.......

Charley Rangel wasn't punished.

[wayiwalk]

Re: MF Global.......

The only factor not in his favor is that he was ousted from Goldman and his role in MF was to help it become "big like Goldman".

But maybe the destruction of MF Global was payback enough in the eyes of TPTB.

[don]

Re: MF Global.......

Does Obama's complicity in this grand theft green light his re-election . . .

30 January 2012

MF Global: A Despicable State of Affairs

Much of the financial press picked up this story from the Wall Street Journal, Money From MF Global Feared Gone. Much of the mainstream media in the US and the UK these days is just a conduit for sound bites from the monied interests.

"Nearly three months after MF Global Holdings Ltd. collapsed, officials hunting for an estimated $1.2 billion in missing customer money increasingly believe that much of it might never be recovered, according to people familiar with the investigation.

As the sprawling probe that includes regulators, criminal and congressional investigators, and court-appointed trustees grinds on, the findings so far suggest that a "significant amount" of the money could have "vaporized" as a result of chaotic trading at MF Global during the week before the company's Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing, said a person close to the investigation."

And as we have heard, quite a bit of that money was also diverted in the last few days into the pockets of MF Global's bank, JP Morgan, which still reportedly holds much of it.

What the press apparently has not yet heard or is not reporting is that vulture funds are now contacting the MF Global customers, however they may have obtained their names, and are offering them 85 cents on the dollar for their claims. Most of the claim holders are reported to expect or to have been payed 72 cents on the dollar as things now stand. The Wall Street Journal certainly casts gloom on their prospects for a full recovery and hopes of justice, based on the report from an unnamed source.

This is creating a difficult position for these much abused customers because of the need to settle their income tax obligations for 2011. Until they can prove the funds are not 'recoverable' they bear the responsibility for their tax obligations on the full amount. But if they settle with the vulture funds they can take the loss and move on, capitulating to the despair and the anxiety of having been cheated and abused by the partnership between government and Wall Street.

Remember that the customers were not speculators who lost money on their bets, as the bailed out banks had been, but in many cases depositors who had cash and precious metals held on accounts in a firm that was one of the Fed's primary dealers and a major player at the CME. And the money was taken twice. First by MF Global, and then by the financial institutions that seized the money and then manipulated the courts and the press to hide it and keep it.

The theft of customer funds was bad enough, but the manner in which the exchange, the regulators, the court, the Congress and the Obama Administration have dealt with the aftermath of this is truly despicable.

If I have ever seen the opportunity for those in the government to take a heroic stand in defense of the people against the predations of powerful financial interests this was it. And so whatever they say from this point is at best a shallow mockery, with the ring of untruth, and the hollowness of hypocrisy. And this is why the American people turn away from their corporate-branded presidential candidates in disgust and revulsion.

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot...f-affairs.html

[Raz]

Re: MF Global.......

Charley Rangel wasn't punished.

Both Corzine and Rangel also have this going for them: a D. after their name.
No media witch-hunt for them.

[don]

Re: MF Global.......

09 February 2012

Jesse's Cafe Americain

MF Global: Trail Growing Cold - 'No One to Blame"'

I did predict something like this would happen in about the second week of the scandal, didn't I?

Did you ever imagine that in America a major brokerage firm would brazenly steal over a billion dollars in customer funds and assets, and that no one would even be prosecuted?

And that the financiers would use the courts to just keep the money, and basically tell the broker's customers to eat shit?

The money? Oh no, that's just vaporized. Just a freak accident, practically an act of God. Very mysterious, but could not happen again. Protection? Sorry don't know anything about that.

No one knows anything. Except that the financial system can't be trusted, and that nothing in it is safe. But they are afraid to admit it.

Reuters Africa
ANALYSIS-Criminal probe trail going cold at MF Global
Thu Feb 9, 2012 10:54pm GMT

Feb 9 (Reuters) - When commodities brokerage MF Global imploded, the FBI and federal prosecutors were quick to launch an investigation to pursue what seemed obvious to outspoken regulators and lawmakers: laws were broken and crimes were committed.

More than three months later, it is far from clear that anyone will face criminal charges over the disappearance of more than $600 million in customer money as MF Global spiraled towards bankruptcy in the brokerage's final, frantic days in the last week of October.

So far, the MF Global investigation is not tracking the early progress of other high-profile financial scandals such as RefCo, where former Chairman Phil Bennett was arrested within days of the disclosure that the futures firm had been hiding losses for years.

Lawyers and people familiar with the MF Global investigation of the firm that was run by former Goldman Sachs head Jon Corzine say that even though the hunt is still on to find out whether or not officials at MF Global intended to pilfer customer money in a desperate bid to keep the brokerage from failing, the trail at this point is growing cold.

To date, scant evidence of criminal intent has emerged in company emails, no former or current employees have sought to cut a deal to provide testimony about potential wrongdoing and seasoned defense lawyers say they are not seeing the tell-tale signs of a hot criminal investigation.

A source familiar with the work of Louis Freeh, trustee for the MF Global holding company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, says investigators have yet to find evidence of fraud in the multi-faceted and complex investigation. (Perhaps stealing and then passing on stolen goods as your own does not qualify as fraud? And what is the MF Global trustee, Lous Freeh, who invokes attorney client privilege with MFG, doing running the investigation? - Jesse)

The source, who declined to be identified because Freeh's office is still conducting its inquiry, says there was plenty of "chaos" at MF Global in its waning days, but "no evidence of fraud." Freeh is a former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation...

Yes We Can!

there's no business like show business like no business I know . . .

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot...no-one-to.html

[lektrode]

Re: MF Global.......

MF Global: Trail Growing Cold - 'No One to Blame"'...
.........
...but "no evidence of fraud." Freeh .....

Yes We Can!

there's no business like show business like no business I know . . .

uh huh.... and... "from 40thousand feet, nothing looks 'illegal'...."

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7391358n

[Thailandnotes]

Re: MF Global.......

What happened to Edith O'Brien?"

"As company officials tried in late October to overcome a customer exodus and demands for more collateral from counter-parties, numerous MF Global employees in Chicago stayed at work around the clock, a person familiar with the situation said. Some workers, exhausted and nerve-wracked, broke down under the pressure and cried, this person said.

"The back-office employee who has disputed Mr. Corzine's testimony is Assistant Treasurer Edith O'Brien. She has told people that she disagrees with Mr. Corzine's suggestion at a House subcommittee hearing in December that she provided assurance that a $200 million transfer to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. three days before the bankruptcy-protection filing was proper, according to people familiar with the situation.

"She has declined to be interviewed by a House subcommittee and the Justice Department and is seeking immunity from prosecution in exchange for cooperation, said people familiar with the matter. Ms. O'Brien, who couldn't be reached for comment, still works for a trustee now unwinding the company."

[Fiat Currency]

Re: MF Global.......

What happened to Edith O'Brien?"

...

I'll take "Car Accident" for $1,000 Alex.

[don]

Re: MF Global.......

a few hundred million here, a few hundred million there, pretty soon you've spent grandma's savings . . .

MF Global Trustee Sees $1.6 Billion Customer Shortfall

By BEN PROTESS

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg NewsJames W. Giddens is the trustee in charge of trying to recover missing money for MF Global’s customers.

8:01 p.m. | Updated

MF Global commodity customers whose cash vanished when the firm collapsed last year are owed $1.6 billion — up significantly from previous estimates — the trustee tasked with recovering the money said on Friday.

The revised figure reflects growing concerns that the trustee will not be able to claw back $700 million in customer money trapped overseas. Until now, the trustee did not include the $700 million when projecting the shortfall, hoping to avoid a battle with MF Global’s British arm, which is holding the customer money.

But now the trustee, James W. Giddens, has acknowledged that he is making little headway in recovering the money from KPMG, the court-appointed administrator for MF Global’s British subsidiary. That money, Mr. Giddens said, was held for American clients who traded on foreign exchanges.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/.../?ref=business

[KGW]

Re: MF Global.......

From Cafe Americain: http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot...nna-of-re.html

starts at 13:40 in...

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot...nna-of-re.html

[Fiat Currency]

Re: MF Global.......

What happened to Edith O'Brien?"

We'll see ...

MF Global ordered to pay US$1.21-billion to cover investor losses

WASHINGTON — MF Global Inc. must pay back US$1.21 billion to ensure customers recover their losses sustained when the brokerage firm failed in 2011.

The restitution is being levied following a complaint filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission earlier this year that alleges MF Global unlawfully used customer funds for the firm’s needs in its final weeks.

MF Global Holdings, the New York-based parent company, imploded in October of 2011 after making big bets on bonds issued by European countries that later turned sour. When it collapsed, more than US$1 billion in customer money was discovered to be missing. It was later discovered that the funds were used to pay for the company’s own operations. With US$41 billion in assets, it was the eighth-largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history.

The commission said Monday that a federal court has approved the consent order for the fine for customer repayment. MF Global also faces a US$100 million civil penalty that must be paid after it has fully paid customers and certain creditors.

MF Global admitted in the consent order that it is liable for some of the allegations pertaining to the acts and omissions of its employees as set forward by the CFTC.

The commission is still involved with litigation against MF Global Holdings Ltd. as well as former company leaders Jon Corzine and Edith O’Brien.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: MF Global.......

We'll see ...

Will that make account owners whole?

What would the float on that money be worth over the period?

How does this personally affect John Corzine in all this in terms of criminal(investigation dropped by DOJ last I heard) and personal(wealth)?

[Fiat Currency]

Re: MF Global.......

Will that make account owners whole? ...

Some more detail ...

MF Global Admits Liability; Will Pay $1.2Bn Restitution & $100MM Penalty

The CFTC has won a consent order against MF Global requiring it to pay $1.212 billion in restitution to customers and a further $100 million civil penalty:

• *MF GLOBAL TO PAY $1.2 BLN RESTITUTION, $100M PENALTY
• *CFTC:PENALTY TO BE PAID AFTER MF FULLY PAYS CUSTOMERS/CREDITORS
• *CFTC:LITIGATION CONTINUES VS CORZINE,O'BRIEN,MF GLOBAL HOLDINGS
• *CFTC: MF GLOBAL ADMITS TO ALLEGATIONS OF LIABILITY IN ORDER

The big question is - of course - where is the money coming from?

Full CFTC Statement:

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) obtained a federal court consent Order against Defendant MF Global Inc. (MF Global) requiring it to pay $1.212 billion in restitution to customers of MF Global to ensure customers recover their losses sustained when MF Global failed in 2011.

The consent Order, entered on November 8, 2013 by U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, also imposes a $100 million civil monetary penalty on MF Global, to be paid after MF Global has fully paid customers and certain other creditors entitled to priority under bankruptcy law. The Trustee for MF Global obtained permission from the bankruptcy court to pay restitution in full to customers to remedy any shortfall with funds of the MF Global general estate.

The consent Order arises out of the CFTC’s complaint, filed on June 27, 2013, charging MF Global and the other Defendants with unlawful use of customer funds (see CFTC Press Release 6626-13, June 27, 2013). In the consent Order, MF Global admits to the allegations pertaining to its liability based on the acts and omissions of its employees as set forth in the consent Order and the Complaint. The CFTC’s litigation continues against the remaining defendants: MF Global Holdings Ltd., Jon S. Corzine, and Edith O’Brien.

Gretchen Lowe, Acting Director of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement, stated, “Division staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that 100 percent restitution be awarded to satisfy customer losses. The CFTC will continue to ensure that those who violate U.S. commodity laws and regulations designed to protect customer funds will be vigorously prosecuted.”

The CFTC’s Complaint charged MF Global, a registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), with violating provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations intended to protect FCM customer funds and requiring diligent supervision by registrants. Specifically, the Complaint charged that during the last week of October 2011, MF Global unlawfully used customer segregated funds to support its own proprietary operations and the operations of its affiliates. In addition to the misuse of customer funds, the Complaint alleged that MF Global

(i) unlawfully failed to notify the CFTC immediately when it knew or should have known of the deficiencies in its customer accounts,

(ii) made false statements in reports it filed with the CFTC that failed to show the deficits in the customer accounts,

(iii) used customer funds for impermissible investments in securities that were not considered readily marketable or highly liquid in violation of CFTC regulation, and

(iv) failed to diligently supervise the handling of commodity interest accounts carried by MF Global and the activities of its partners, officers, employees, and agents.

[aaron]

Corzine son dead

Corzine MAY possibly walk away with 12.1 million. Not bad. Not bad at all.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf..._confirms.html