MF Global filed for bankruptcy yesterday and hundreds of millions are apparently missing from client accounts. Regulators are trying to determine if the money was used to prop up the company. The firm is run by former Goldman Sachs co-chair and New Jersey governor Jon Corsine who was quoted as saying “Rules, I don’t have to follow no stinking rules.” OK, he didn’t actually say that, but diverting client money to use for trades made by the company is so scumbaggy that no else is voicing even the teensiest of support for the company.
If client money was diverted, then we need criminal indictments not more of the usual timid Obama Administration slap-on-the-wrist fines.
“MF Global is not in compliance with CME and CFTC regulations related to customer segregation” of funds, said CME Group’s CEO. That company runs a trading marketplace for derivatives.
R’uh roh (emphasis added)
The collapse of MF Global has been likened to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, which precipitated the global financial crisis.
[Dick] Bove said that the attempts to clean up the financial services sector through various forms of legislation, including Dodd-Frank and the Volcker Rule – intended to prevent firms from putting the system at risk, had been ignored by MF Global.