Tweet
This is an absolute travesty. Beyond the pale of legal sensibility and precedent. Welcome to the wild, wild west of investing where now anything goes, and perhaps (if past returns are evidence of future results) no one gets jailed for theft, fraud, or pretty much anything else. I doubt you could convince me to open a futures account with ANY company that trades for it's own account -- EVER.
http://www.acting-man.com/?p=19030
The Sentinel Case – Another Nail in the Coffin of ‘Market Confidence’ August 15, 2012 | Author Pater Tenebrarum
Good Faith Purchase of Stolen Goods
Traditional legal principles are seemingly pretty clear and straightforward on how a good faith acquisition of stolen goods is to be treated: the buyer, even though he is not criminally liable, can not acquire title to stolen property. Title remains with the original owner and the buyer who has acquired such property in good faith only has recourse to the party that sold the goods to him.
*snip*
The Sentinel Case
The failed futures brokerage Sentinel Management Group lost the money of its clients in when it went into bankruptcy in 2007. According to the SEC, the firm misappropriated the funds belonging to its clients.
Since then, creditors of the company have been fighting over who has title to certain assets. On the one side are the customers of Sentinel, whose funds and accounts were supposed to have been segregated from the company's assets. On the other side there is New York Mellon Bank, which lent Sentinel $312 million that were secured with collateral mainly consisting of said – allegedly 'segregated' – customer funds.
Reuters informs us now that the unexpected outcome of the Sentinel case means bad tidings for the clients of MF Global, who find themselves in a very similar bind. Below are a few excerpts from the Reuters article – apparently the 'nemo dat' principle does not apply to banks:
1.What has already come to light in the context of the MF Global case has been confirmed by this case: the so-called 'segregation' of customer funds always was and remains a legal fiction. Segregation of customer funds simply does not exist. Brokers can do with their clients funds whatever they like, just as long as it is not 'intentional fraud'.
2. If customer funds are misappropriated and used as collateral for loans intended for the brokerage's own business dealings, then the 'nemo dat' principle can be safely ignored by the court. Banks that received what were essentially misappropriated goods as collateral do not have to return them to their original owners as long as they are deemed to have acted in good faith. A bank is not forced to exercise care to the extent of ensuring that funds offered as collateral belong to the broker and are not part of the 'segregated' accounts of customers.
3.If customers of futures brokers actually want to protect their 'segregated' funds, they apparently must hire private detectives to run a constant surveillance mission on the brokers holding their funds. The door is now wide open to fraud – with clients evidently forfeiting title to their 'segregated' funds as soon as they are used as collateral for a bank loan, there is nothing to stop anyone from stealing such funds.
4.The fact that the court ruled “That Sentinel failed to keep client funds properly segregated is not, on its own, sufficient to rule as a matter of law that Sentinel acted ‘with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud' its customers" is simply breathtaking. According to the SEC, Sentinel quite deliberately defrauded its customers.
*snip*
http://www.acting-man.com/?p=19030
The Sentinel Case – Another Nail in the Coffin of ‘Market Confidence’ August 15, 2012 | Author Pater Tenebrarum
Good Faith Purchase of Stolen Goods
Traditional legal principles are seemingly pretty clear and straightforward on how a good faith acquisition of stolen goods is to be treated: the buyer, even though he is not criminally liable, can not acquire title to stolen property. Title remains with the original owner and the buyer who has acquired such property in good faith only has recourse to the party that sold the goods to him.
*snip*
The Sentinel Case
The failed futures brokerage Sentinel Management Group lost the money of its clients in when it went into bankruptcy in 2007. According to the SEC, the firm misappropriated the funds belonging to its clients.
Since then, creditors of the company have been fighting over who has title to certain assets. On the one side are the customers of Sentinel, whose funds and accounts were supposed to have been segregated from the company's assets. On the other side there is New York Mellon Bank, which lent Sentinel $312 million that were secured with collateral mainly consisting of said – allegedly 'segregated' – customer funds.
Reuters informs us now that the unexpected outcome of the Sentinel case means bad tidings for the clients of MF Global, who find themselves in a very similar bind. Below are a few excerpts from the Reuters article – apparently the 'nemo dat' principle does not apply to banks:
“A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a ruling that puts Bank of New York Mellon ahead of former customers of Sentinel in the line of those seeking the return of
money lost in the 2007 failure of the suburban Chicago-based futures broker.
The appeals court affirmed an earlier district court ruling that the bank had a "secured position" on a $312 million loan it gave to Sentinel, which turned out to have been secured by customer money.
Futures brokers are required to keep customers' funds in dedicated accounts to protect them from being used for anything other than client business. However, Thursday's ruling suggests that brokerages can use customer funds to pay off other creditors, Sentinel trustee Fred Grede told Reuters.
"I don't think that's what the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had in mind" with its requirement that brokers keep customer money separate from their own, he said. "It does not bode well for the protection of customer funds."
Worse, Grede said, is that the ruling suggests that a brokerage that allows customer money to be mixed with its own is not necessarily committing fraud.That may raise the bar for proving that MF Global Holdings Ltd, under then-CEO Jon Corzine, misused customer funds as it scrambled to meet margin calls to back bets on European debt in the brokerage's final days. A $1.6 billion customer shortfall remains.[...]"I'm sure Mr. Corzine's attorneys will get ahold of this ruling and use it for all it's worth," Grede said.[…]The appeals court said that "perhaps the bank should have known that Sentinel violated segregation requirements" but agreed with the district court's earlier ruling that "such a lack of care does not rise to the level of the egregious misconduct" needed to reprioritize a claim."That Sentinel failed to keep client funds properly segregated is not, on its own, sufficient to rule as a matter of law that Sentinel acted ‘with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud' its customers," U.S. Circuit Judge John D. Tinder wrote in the ruling.” (emphasis added)Obviously we are not acquainted with all the details of the case, but there are a few obvious inferences we can draw from the above.
money lost in the 2007 failure of the suburban Chicago-based futures broker.
The appeals court affirmed an earlier district court ruling that the bank had a "secured position" on a $312 million loan it gave to Sentinel, which turned out to have been secured by customer money.
Futures brokers are required to keep customers' funds in dedicated accounts to protect them from being used for anything other than client business. However, Thursday's ruling suggests that brokerages can use customer funds to pay off other creditors, Sentinel trustee Fred Grede told Reuters.
"I don't think that's what the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had in mind" with its requirement that brokers keep customer money separate from their own, he said. "It does not bode well for the protection of customer funds."
Worse, Grede said, is that the ruling suggests that a brokerage that allows customer money to be mixed with its own is not necessarily committing fraud.That may raise the bar for proving that MF Global Holdings Ltd, under then-CEO Jon Corzine, misused customer funds as it scrambled to meet margin calls to back bets on European debt in the brokerage's final days. A $1.6 billion customer shortfall remains.[...]"I'm sure Mr. Corzine's attorneys will get ahold of this ruling and use it for all it's worth," Grede said.[…]The appeals court said that "perhaps the bank should have known that Sentinel violated segregation requirements" but agreed with the district court's earlier ruling that "such a lack of care does not rise to the level of the egregious misconduct" needed to reprioritize a claim."That Sentinel failed to keep client funds properly segregated is not, on its own, sufficient to rule as a matter of law that Sentinel acted ‘with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud' its customers," U.S. Circuit Judge John D. Tinder wrote in the ruling.” (emphasis added)Obviously we are not acquainted with all the details of the case, but there are a few obvious inferences we can draw from the above.
2. If customer funds are misappropriated and used as collateral for loans intended for the brokerage's own business dealings, then the 'nemo dat' principle can be safely ignored by the court. Banks that received what were essentially misappropriated goods as collateral do not have to return them to their original owners as long as they are deemed to have acted in good faith. A bank is not forced to exercise care to the extent of ensuring that funds offered as collateral belong to the broker and are not part of the 'segregated' accounts of customers.
3.If customers of futures brokers actually want to protect their 'segregated' funds, they apparently must hire private detectives to run a constant surveillance mission on the brokers holding their funds. The door is now wide open to fraud – with clients evidently forfeiting title to their 'segregated' funds as soon as they are used as collateral for a bank loan, there is nothing to stop anyone from stealing such funds.
4.The fact that the court ruled “That Sentinel failed to keep client funds properly segregated is not, on its own, sufficient to rule as a matter of law that Sentinel acted ‘with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud' its customers" is simply breathtaking. According to the SEC, Sentinel quite deliberately defrauded its customers.
*snip*