Should MF Global have been making financial transaction just days before declaring bankruptcy? It is a repulsive thing to see financial firms maneuvering their way around the best deals for themselves while customers and shareholders just hope for the best. It is always Goldman Sachs Ethics At Work.
MF Global sold assets to Goldman before collapse: sourcesRead the rest of the article here
By Lauren Tara LaCapra and Matthew Goldstein - Reuters (Chicago Tribune)
(Reuters) - MF Global unloaded hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of securities to Goldman Sachs in the days leading up to its collapse, according to two former MF Global employees with direct knowledge of the transactions. But it did not immediately receive payment from its clearing firm and lender, JPMorgan Chase & Co , one of the sources said.
The sale of securities to Goldman occurred on October 27, just days before MF Global Holdings Ltd filed for bankruptcy on October 31, the ex-employees said. One of the employees said the transaction was cleared with JPMorgan Chase.
At the same time MF Global, which was run by former Goldman Sachs head Jon Corzine, was selling securities to Goldman to raise badly needed cash, the futures firm was also drawing down a $1.2 billion revolving line of credit it had with JPMorgan, according to one of the former MF Global employees.
JPMorgan spokeswoman Mary Sedarat said the bank did not withold money because of the line of credit. She declined further comment on details of the transactions.
JPMorgan has fought aggressively in bankruptcy court to protect its interests, and received a lien on some of MF Global's assets in exchange for granting the firm $8 million to fund its bankruptcy costs. The lien puts JPMorgan's interests ahead of MF Global customers who have not yet received an estimated $900 million worth of money from their accounts, which remain frozen as regulators search for missing funds.
The hastily crafted transactions and the seeming inability of MF Global to recoup some of the money in the sale to Goldman may start to explain why so much money remains unaccounted for at the futures firm.
It is unclear what type of assets Goldman bought from MF Global, but the securities were worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the former employees said. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity.
5 COMMENTS:
President Obama, Demopublican (January 4, 2012)
From a more objective view stripped of phony ideological parsing, what exactly is the difference between Obama's policies and those of moderate Republicans? We can get a better grasp on his Demopublican nature by asking a few key questions:
How many bloated weapons systems has he cancelled? (Zero)
How many overseas bases of the Empire has he closed? (none)
Who runs his financial policies? Wall Street cronies.
I think you get the idea here: there is literally no difference between Obama and a moderate Republican when it comes to the truly important policies governing the nation's insolvent finances, its predatory financial sector, its corrupt and fraudulent sickcare system or its sprawling Empire.
Obama's policies have all aided and abetted existing Status Quo cartels and fiefdoms. He has changed absolutely nothing of import except further eroding civil liberties.
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjan12/Obama-demopublican01-12.html
what's not to like?
America under Ron Paul
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7393772n&tag=pop;videos
Thursday, January 5, 2012
A Couple Ominous Signs
Of course, there are many. But first I had to get this off my chest, after reading the report that Jon Corzine and his wife were at some party in Paris shortly before MF Global collapsed and they announced that they were looking for a country French chateau to purchase. Perhaps the bankruptcy trustee, who's law firm counts JP Morgan - the primary non-customer creditor to the bankruptcy - should take a look at all cash flows that flowed from MF Global to Jon Corzine. It's a given that will never happen. But it occurred to me that one of the primary co-conspirators in this whole situation is CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler. In my book he is a total failure as a Government regulator and enforcer of laws. He is an employee of the public and should be fired. As a human being he is a loser. Quite frankly, in my book Gary Gensler's status as a human being is between whale sh!t and the ocean floor. And I extend this to AG Eric Holder for not initiating an independent investigation into this whole mess and to Obama for not forcing Holder to do so and for not removing Gensler from his position. I guess that in and of itself is a very ominous sign for our system and way of life.
http://truthingold.blogspot.com/2012/01/couple-ominous-signs.html
Ann Barnhardt & Warren Pollock Have an Open Conversation
"Ann Barnhardt and I (Warren Pollock) have an open conversation organized to provide background to this crisis, the setting of legal precedent, netting, settlement, and future trends including a potential bank holiday. We talk about MF Global as it applies to savings and commercial banking, brokerage, insurance, and commodities. We talk about numeric impossibility of solving the problem, incest between government and finance, having the victim of the crisis pay rather than the fraudster. We explain how the MF Global bankruptcy process will define how customer funds will be treated in a bank holiday. We talk about the idea of having an honest bank holiday to root out fraud vs an economic crisis which plays to looting and criminal activity of vested interest."
http://youtu.be/hGl3QPfB084
Yes, Virginia, Brokerage Firms Keeping Client Ripoff Provisions in Customer Agreements in the Wake of MF Global
In the wake of the collapse of MF Global, and the evaporation of funds in customer accounts, even ones with no margin lending, investors big and small have become duly concerned about the safety of their funds. For those of you who are not brokerage customers, one of the big achievements of the 1930s security law reforms was their success, up until now, in putting rules in place that protected customer assets. Numerous broker/dealers have failed but their clients’ funds were recovered.
But it is always easier to steal with a pen than via more complex means. In support of our consumer protection efforts, reader Don H has sent evidence that the banks are keeping their rights to misuse customers firmly in place in the wake of MF Global:
Just got a 20 page ‘client agreement’ from from Wells Fargo for a security account which contains some amazing (to me) stuff.
It starts:
“This is your Client Agreement. It includes the terms and conditions and is the contract that controls your securities accounts.”
Later:
“Each account opened by you is a margin brokerage securities account, unless otherwise prohibited by applicable law or…” (so one can opt out but has to make a special request to set up a cash account. I wonder how many people who never deal in futures or short selling will realize they have a margin account?)
Later:
“We may, at our sole discretion and without prior notice to you, prohibit or restrict your ability to trade securities and/or other property.” (They can shut you out of the market at their whim)
Later:
“We may at any time and without giving you prior notice, use and/or transfer any or all securities and/or other property in any Account in which you have an interest, without regard to us having made any advances in connection with such securities and/or other property” (They can “MF Global” account holders without any further ado.)
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/01/yes-virginia-brokerage-firms-keeping-client-ripoff-provisions-in-customer-agreements-in-the-wake-of-mf-global.html
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