The trustee tasked with clawing back money for burned customers of MF Global is training his sights on the brokerage firm’s executives — a list that likely includes former CEO Jon Corzine.
In a statement yesterday, trustee James Giddens said he is considering pursuing claims against “certain responsible individuals” who worked for MF at the time customers’ trading accounts were improperly tapped.
Kent Jarrell, a spokesman for Giddens, declined to name names but said the trustee is considering civil suits against “officers, directors or other employees” of both the brokerage firm and the holding company.
Reuters
Jon Corzine
Giddens said his investigation into $1.6 billion in missing client funds supports claims based on “breach of fiduciary duties,” suggesting that he could file suits against anyone who knew, or should have known, about what happened to customer cash in the days leading up to the firm’s Oct. 31 collapse.
That could include Corzine, the ex-New Jersey governor who was heading the brokerage firm when the $1.6 billion went missing, as well as Laurie Ferber, the company’s current general counsel, and CFO Henri Steenkamp.
Authorities have said that $200 million was improperly removed from customers’ accounts on the Friday leading up to the bankruptcy to cover an overdraft in a JPMorgan account in London.
During his testimony last year, Corzine fingered the company’s Assistant Treasurer Edith O’Brien for approving the transfer.
But lawmakers recently pulled an e-mail from O’Brien, in which she said the transfer was “per JC’s direct instructions.” Corzine maintained that he never authorized the money to be transferred from customers’ accounts.
On Thursday, the day before the transfer, an audit by the CME Group, MF’s clearing firm, found that MF had just $116.16 million in so-called “excess” customer funds as of the previous day.
By the next day, MF told CME it had excess segregated funds of $200 million — the same amount that was then transferred from customers’ funds.
kwhitehouse@nypost.com
James Giddens, MF Global, Edith O’Brien, customer funds, Laurie Ferber
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