NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Money was found missing from the books of MF Global, a discrepancy that cost the brokerage a potential deal with Interactive Brokers and forced it into bankruptcy, according to government agencies.

MF Global (MF), a company led by former New Jersey governor and former Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Monday.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission said, in a joint statement on Monday, "MF Global informed the regulators that the transaction had not been agreed to and reported possible deficiencies in customer futures segregated accounts held at the firm."

An MF Global spokeswoman did not return messages from CNNMoney to confirm reports by the New York Times that as much as $700 million was discovered missing from the company's balance sheet.

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MF Global filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, leaving behind more than $2.2 billion in debt, held mostly by JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), with more than $1.2 billion in bonds, and Deutsche Bank (DB), with about $1 billion.

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The bankruptcy filing also entangles 45 other unsecured creditors holding a total of some $10 million. The creditors include American Express (AMEX), KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Read more here: http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/01/news/companies/mf_global_bankruptcy/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2

Oh my, oh my! Looks like OWS just received an early Christmas present!

Official: MF Global admitted using client money

By Daniel Wagner
AP Business Writer / November 1, 2011


WASHINGTON—MF Global, the securities firm led by Jon Corzine, admitted using clients' money as its financial troubles mounted, a federal official says.

An MF Global executive admitted that to federal regulators in a phone call early Monday after regulators raised questions about the company's books, according to an official familiar with the conversation.

It is not clear where the money ended up or what it might have been used for, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss an investigation by federal regulators.

Government rules require securities firms to keep clients' money and company money in separate accounts. Violations can result in civil penalties.

MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, after a big bet on European debt threatened to topple it.

The investigation of MF Global Holdings Ltd. is preliminary. A formal investigation by the company's main regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, requires a vote by its five commissioners.

It isn't clear whether the violations could lead to criminal charges. At a news conference, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara would not comment on whether a criminal investigation is underway involving the revelations at MF Global.

Earlier Tuesday, the head of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange said that MF Global had violated rules requiring it to keep clients' money in separate accounts.

Read more here: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/11/01/cme_group_mf_global_violated_customer_cash_rules/

6 things no one will tell you about MF Global

Commentary: This is what’s wrong with the economyStories You Might Like
By Brett Arends, MarketWatch

BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Here’s a brain-teaser for you.

Which corporate honcho bragged recently about his company’s strong resources, positive outlook and outstanding “execution” skills? Who said he was “particularly pleased” at recent developments, and predicted “competitive returns to shareholders in the quarters ahead”?

Tim Cook at Apple? Alan Mulally at Ford? Mike Duke at Wal-Mart?

None of the above. The answer is Jon Corzine, who runs MF Global Holdings Ltd. He made those remarks a week ago. Yesterday the company filed for bankruptcy.

One week. No kidding.

You may be watching the news about MF Global and shrugging. You may think, “minor blowup on Wall Street, few injured.”

But you’d be wrong. What just happened at MF Global illustrates everything wrong with the U.S. economy. That’s right: It’s all here!

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Read more here: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mf-globals-risk-mismanagement-2011-11-01?pagenumber=1

Corzine, top Obama fundraiser, under FBI investigation

By NBC’s Michael Isikoff

Jon Corzine, now the center of an FBI investigation into the handling of hundreds of millions of dollars invested in his securities firm, was one of the leading Wall Street fundraisers for President Obama’s campaign and suggested to investors that he might take a top administration post if the president were re-elected.

His new legal troubles, sparked by the bankruptcy filing of his investment firm, MF Global, could complicate the president’s efforts to raise money from the financial community given Corzine’s central role in those efforts.

A recent list of top “bundlers” or elite fundraisers released by Obama’s campaign listed Corzine in the highest category -- reporting that he had raised more than $500,000 for the campaign. A substantial chunk of those funds were collected at a $35,800 per ticket fundraiser that Corzine hosted at his wife’s spacious Fifth Avenue apartment last April -- an event that was touted at the time as part of a concerted effort by the president’s campaign team to reach out to well-heeled Wall Street donors who had been alienated by some of his policies and previous public comments.

Just a few months after that event, Corzine’s firm, MF Global, surprised many Wall Street investors by issuing highly unusual securities notes that appeared to highlight Corzine’s close relationship with the White House: The notes suggested that the former New Jersey governor might be in line for a top administration post should the president get re-elected.

The notes promised to pay an extra 1% in interest rates in the event of “the departure of Mr. Corzine as our full time chief executive officer due to his appointment to a federal position by the President of the United States and his confirmation…by the United States Senate prior to July 1, 2013.”

Some veteran Wall Street analysts said they couldn’t recall ever seeing such a contingency written into securities notes. “It was bizarre,” said Christopher Whalen, a Wall Street analyst.

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Read more here: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/02/8599414-corzine-top-obama-fundraiser-under-fbi-investigation

Where's MF clients' money? Follow the emails

By Patrick Rizzo

Who knew what and when about an estimated $1.2 billion worth of client finds missing from the accounts of now-bankrupt broker MF Global Holdings Ltd?

The answer to that question is vexing a slew of regulators, the FBI, and of course the clients who would like their money back. Published reports Tuesday said $200 million worth may have been transferred to an MF Global account at JPMorgan Chase three days before the brokerage filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 31.

The New York Times reported that federal authorities probing where the missing money went have discovered an email chain that discusses the transfer of the funds to JP Morgan on Oct. 28. The email chain includes instructions to Edith O'Brien, a treasurer at MF Global's Chicago office, to make the transfer, the Times reported, citing people close to the probe who requested not to be named because the inquiry remains open.

Read more here: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/21/9605694-wheres-mf-clients-money-follow-the-emails

Guess where the money went!

JP Morgan CHASE!

Jon Corzine, Ex-MF Global CEO, Gave 'Direct Instructions' To Transfer $200M From Customer Account


By MARCY GORDON 03/23/12 08:25 PM ET

WASHINGTON — A former MF Global executive appears to contradict testimony from Jon Corzine, saying the former senator and New Jersey governor ordered the transfer of $200 million last fall out of a customer account days before the brokerage firm collapsed, according to an email obtained by congressional investigators.

Edith O'Brien, MF Global's former assistant treasurer, says Corzine ordered the money shifted to one of the firm's bank accounts overseas on Oct. 28 to cover an overdraft, according to a memo that cited the email.

The email noted that the transfer was made "per JC's direct instructions."

MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 31. The firm failed because of a disastrous bet on European debt. About $1.6 billion of customers' money hasn't been recovered.

A House Financial Services subcommittee released the memo Friday in advance of a hearing Wednesday. O'Brien has been subpoenaed to testify. The Associated Press was unable to reach her for comment.

In December, Corzine told the panel at a hearing: "I did not instruct anyone to lend customer funds to MF Global or any of its affiliates." Corzine also told the subcommittee he didn't know about "the use of customer funds on any loan or transfer."

And Corzine told a Senate panel two days earlier: "I never gave any instruction to anyone at MF Global to misuse customer funds."

Steven Goldberg, a spokesman for Corzine, reiterated in a statement Friday that Corzine testified that there wasn't anything he had said that "could reasonably have been interpreted as an instruction to misuse customer funds. He stands by that testimony."

Read more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/jon-corzine-ex-mf-global-ceo_n_1376281.html

$1.6 billion in missing MF Global funds traced
By James O'Toole@CNNMoney
April 24, 2012: 6:49 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Investigators probing the collapse of bankrupt brokerage MF Global said Tuesday that they have located the $1.6 billion in customer money that had gone missing from the firm.

But just how much of those funds can be returned to the firm's clients, and who will be held responsible for their misappropriation, remains to be seen.

James Giddens, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of MF Global Inc, told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday that his team's analysis of how the money went missing "is substantially concluded."

"We can trace where the cash and securities in the firm went, and that we've done," Giddens said.

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Roughly $700 million of the missing money is now locked up with MF Global's subsidiary in the United Kingdom, where Giddens and his team are engaged in litigation to have it returned to U.S. customers. Giddens said he is "reasonably confident" that these funds will be recovered, though he added that it will be a lengthy process with no guarantee of success.

Another $220 million was transferred inadvertently from the accounts of securities customers to those of commodities customers. That money is now in limbo amid a dispute over which customers it belongs to, said Kent Jarrell, a spokesman for Giddens.

The final $680 million or so was transferred to other financial institutions with which MF Global did business, including a substantial portion that went to JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500).

Giddens said his team has "a solid basis for seeking the recovery of some of the funds that were transferred to JPMorgan," and is engaged in ongoing talks on the issue. JPMorgan did not immediately return a request for comment.

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Read more here: http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/24/news/companies/mf-global/index.htm?hpt=hp_t3

I know lets start shooting bank managers in the head like the filthy vermin they are! illuminati peices of sh!t! sorry L2L I'm in pain at the moment and when I'm in pain I get in a real nasty mood.

Nope, freak, shooting them is just a waste of good bullets as my dear, departed Granddaddy would tell ya!

These folks need to be sentenced to work in Africa, India, Haiti and other hell holes in the world.

Why? Because they helped create the very conditions millions of people live in every day.

Besides, even though I am a good Christian woman, I firmly believe in karma. My Bible teaches that you "reap what you sow."

I think these people are just shriveled souls living in sad, sad bodies.

They will get theirs one of these days, trust me on this one.

Edited to add: Feel better soon, my friend!

Funny you should mention that. The motto on my father's family coat of arms is "Quod meteris, severis" = "What you sow you shall reap." I like it - IOW, what goes around comes around.

No Criminal Case Is Likely in Loss at MF Global

By AZAM AHMED and BEN PROTESS

A criminal investigation into the collapse of the brokerage firm MF Global and the disappearance of about $1 billion in customer money is now heading into its final stage without charges expected against any top executives.

After 10 months of stitching together evidence on the firm’s demise, criminal investigators are concluding that chaos and porous risk controls at the firm, rather than fraud, allowed the money to disappear, according to people involved in the case.

The hurdles to building a criminal case were always high with MF Global, which filed for bankruptcy in October after a huge bet on European debt unnerved the market. But a lack of charges in the largest Wall Street blowup since 2008 is likely to fuel frustration with the government’s struggle to charge financial executives. Just a few individuals — none of them top Wall Street players — have been prosecuted for the risky acts that led to recent failures and billions of dollars in losses.

In the most telling indication yet that the MF Global investigation is winding down, federal authorities are seeking to interview the former chief of the firm, Jon S. Corzine, next month, according to the people involved in the case. Authorities hope that Mr. Corzine, who is expected to accept the invitation, will shed light on the actions of other employees at MF Global.

Those developments indicate that federal prosecutors do not expect to file criminal charges against the former New Jersey governor. Mr. Corzine has not yet received assurances that he is free from scrutiny, but two rounds of interviews with former employees and a review of thousands of documents have left prosecutors without a case against him, say the people involved in the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

While the government’s findings would remove the darkest cloud looming over Mr. Corzine — the threat of criminal charges — the former Goldman Sachs chief is not yet in the clear. A bankruptcy trustee on Wednesday joined customers’ lawsuits against Mr. Corzine, and regulators are still considering civil enforcement actions, which could cost him millions of dollars or ban him from working on Wall Street.

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Read more here: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/no-criminal-case-is-likely-in-loss-at-mf-global/?hp

Son of a biscuit eater!

When I read these stories - I have two questions that always come up for me:

1. Where are missing millions?

2. Why is no-one being proven guilty for stealing the missing millions?


It is all a mind game.....

Ya know, Sky, I had the same questions. Talked to an investment banker friend and guess what he said?



And the truth will set you free.

That makes a lot of sense Blue....

All bull$%!# for the sake of Power and Money!

Wanna be 'little gods'!

Yup, everything's on paper. The only real value is in things like food, precious metals, ammo lately, etc. That's why I fear they will attempt to confiscate gold again.... maybe even silver this time, or make some law about using real money, i.e. silver coins, gold, etc. Things that will be of great value will be those in short supply - food, salt, medicines...

No doubt on the resource stocks Ruts!

Every basic item will have the potential to become a valuable trade item. We would barter our way to survival imo. Seeds will be the most valuable item! Nothing will beat food items when the currencies are crashed.

We are planning seed growing beds to do exclusive seen generation at present. It remains a tough task and one needs experience to be able to produce good legacy seed. Also trading seeds with neighbors is important to keep the genetics viable. Its been a steep learning curve and we are doing quite a bit of education with our growers circle to get folks interested.

I see George Soros is dumping stocks and buying up lots of Gold. Something to keep an eye on!