U.S. Inquiry of MF Global Gains Speed - Search for $ 1.2 billion is on

[Mira]

January 9, 2012, 9:57 pmLegal/Regulatory
U.S. Inquiry of MF Global Gains Speed
By BEN PROTESS and AZAM AHMED

The investigation into MF Global is intensifying as federal authorities unearth new details and confront potential obstacles in their hunt for roughly $1.2 billion in customer money that disappeared from the brokerage firm.
While prosecutors and regulators have jointly conducted dozens of depositions with former and current employees, a senior official in the Chicago office of MF Global recently declined to meet with the federal authorities, people briefed on the investigation said.
That official, Edith O’Brien, a treasurer at MF Global, is considered a “person of interest” in the investigation, the people said. Federal authorities suspect that she transferred about $200 million to JPMorgan Chase in London on the eve of the bankruptcy of MF Global, money that turned out to be customer cash.
Authorities had expected to interview Ms. O’Brien last month. She instead balked at meeting voluntarily, asking first to strike a deal with criminal authorities that would excuse her from prosecution. the people said. The criminal investigation is led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and federal prosecutors in Chicago and Manhattan.

for all of it go to:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/u-s-inquiry-of-mf-global-gains-speed/?nl=business&emc=dlbka8

[Hugin]

1. Thanks for posting.

Very interesting.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. The trick will be getting JP Morgan to hand over the money.

I am tempted to start a betting pool on outcomes.
My bet is that the worse JP will face is the SEC slap on the wrist and teensy fine, and will keep the money, despite the harm this does to the credibility of other funds.

[FarCenter]

3. Remember that "MF" stands for "Man Financial" and was a British company

The money undoubtedly went to London and from there to places like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Isle of Jersey, Isle of Man and other convenient places with their own peculiar legal systems for sheltering ill-gotten gains.

[Demeter]

4. If the Regulators Play Their Cards Right

They ought to be able to take down JPMorgan AND Goldman Sachs as criminal enterprises. Blankfein and Dimon in matching orange jumpsuits....that would truly be a benefit to the entire world.

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. So she won't even meet with them until she has blanket immunity?

Can you say criminal?

I hope she sticks with that. Then, when the whole thing comes crashing down, they get her from the back end.

[banned from Kos]

7. 10-1 they never find all these funds - the books were a total disaster

and regulators at the CFTC had fined MFG four times 2007-09 for improprieties.

This will be a dead end investigation.

Lawsuits will abound, no doubt though.

[AnneD]

8. For the last year or so...

on the SWT we wondered when the other economic shoe would drop. I am now more firmly convinced that MF Global is that shoe. It seems as if property rights of the individual has been superceeded by the banks and corperations, with the US government's blessing. This cuts to the quick of the capalistic system. As more info comes out about MF Global and our spineless government sides with business, they are cutting open the goose that laid the golden egg.

As the MF Global story unfolds and information leaks out...the smart money will start leaving the system.