Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Has Some MF Global Client Money Been Found?

Maybe (h/t nc links):
Some investigators suspect that the transfer to JPMorgan was the first major misuse of customer money at MF Global, the commodity brokerage powerhouse once run by Jon S. Corzine, the former Democratic governor of New Jersey. Authorities are also looking into whether JPMorgan initially questioned the source of the cash and sought proof from MF Global that it was complying with regulations, one of the people said.
The authorities believe MF Global failed to give JPMorgan full documentation for the cash, the people briefed on the matter said. But the bank’s concerns hardly mattered because the money had already been transferred to the account in Britain. It is unclear whether investigators can recover the $200 million.
Well Mr. Corzine, I don't think any political connections will save you from a vacation in the federal penitentiary, but the Justice Department hasn't tried too hard to put other crooks away.  This case has pretty clearly crossed some formerly uncrossed boundaries, which will put the fear of God in some federal prosecutors.  Purloining from custodial accounts is bad, bad news.  Even if this is $200 million of the missing customer money, where's the other $1 billion?

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