Sense on Cents

Four full months have passed and MF Global customers are still out a reported ~$1.6 billion.

How are these individuals and entities surviving? Will they ever see a return of their funds?  Will the public ever learn what truly happened in those fateful days and hours when this firm went down the tubes?

Don’t hold your breath.

In a not unsurprising manner, we receive word on a late Friday afternoon that the investigation into the MF Global demise may be little more than a case of sloppy controls and compliance. Is this to be believed? 

Let’s listen to Wall Street’s top financial investigative reporter Charlie Gasparino:

One question is screaming to be addressed. Has MF Global’s assistant treasurer Edith O’Brien been granted absolute immunity?

Recall that she was requesting just that. Ms. O’Brien reportedly did not sign off on documentation provided by JP Morgan that funds being wired from MF Global to JPM were not customer funds. Why didn’t Ms. O’ Brien sign off? What did she know? What was the nature of the discussions O’Brien had with senior executives at MF Global? Were those conversations on taped lines? So many questions. So few answers.

Is “the fix” being put in, as a reader indicated to us the other day in writing:

Ted
February 23, 2012 at 1:08 PM
Another WSJ story today about Corzine throwing her (O’ Brien) under the bus.

The fix is in. She was probably told to hire Weingarten since he would protect the establishment/Corzine. A back office administrator in Chicago doesnt normally have those kinds of DC legal connections….

Might America have a greater degree of confidence if we knew that investigators had actually granted Ms. O’Brien the immunity she requested? Or is the full and total truth an inconvenience and a secondary pursuit?

Given the relationships MF Global’s CEO Jon Corzine has on Wall Street and in Washington, and for the benefit of all MF Global customers, Sense on Cents calls for: absolute immunity for Ms. O’Brien; an independent prosecutor; a grand jury investigation.

Anything short of that will leave our nation and these customers feeling shortchanged. Although we have had plenty of that over the last few years.

What do you think?

You may care to review these other Sense on Cents commentaries on Mr. Corzine.

Larry Doyle

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I have no affiliation or business interest with any entity referenced in this commentary. The opinions expressed are my own. I am a proponent of real transparency within our markets, our economy, and our political realm so that meaningful investor confidence and investor protection can be achieved.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 25th, 2012 at 9:07 AM and is filed under General, MF Global. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.