Libertarian_Guard
29th January 2013, 07:11 PM
MF Global’s Bankruptcy Nears a Happy Conclusion
When Mahesh Desai checked his MF Global account 15 months ago, his $580,000 nest egg was gone.
Like thousands of investors and farmers who had their savings with MF Global, Mr. Desai lost his money in the brokerage firm’s chaotic final days. Regulators discovered that $1.6 billion was trapped in a web of improper wire transfers, a stunning breach that sent federal investigators scrambling to build a case.
On Thursday, a bankruptcy court will review a proposal that would return 93 percent of the missing money to customers like Mr. Desai. And the trustee who has submitted the proposal, James W. Giddens, has quietly identified a way that, if approved by the judge, could plug the remaining shortfall for customers in the United States, according to people involved in the case.
The broad push to make MF Global customers nearly whole, a goal now surprisingly within reach, is a remarkable turnaround from the firm’s Halloween 2011 bankruptcy filing when such a recovery seemed impossible.
“I’m surprised that, magically, the money has shown up,” said Mr. Desai, a software account executive who, like most customers in the United States who traded futures contracts, has only 80 percent of his money. “I feel very relieved.”
“This is the eighth-largest bankruptcy in history and we’ve been able to sprint ahead on some occasions, but this is a marathon,” Mr. Giddens’s spokesman, Kent Jarrell, said in a statement.
The deal, if approved by the bankruptcy judge on Thursday, will enable Mr. Giddens to return up to 93 percent of the money of MF Global’s United States customers. If a series of settlements with JPMorgan and other firms fall into place, people involved in the case said, Mr. Giddens could ultimately return 100 percent of the missing money.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/mf-globals-bankruptcy-closes-in-on-a-happy-conclusion/
When Mahesh Desai checked his MF Global account 15 months ago, his $580,000 nest egg was gone.
Like thousands of investors and farmers who had their savings with MF Global, Mr. Desai lost his money in the brokerage firm’s chaotic final days. Regulators discovered that $1.6 billion was trapped in a web of improper wire transfers, a stunning breach that sent federal investigators scrambling to build a case.
On Thursday, a bankruptcy court will review a proposal that would return 93 percent of the missing money to customers like Mr. Desai. And the trustee who has submitted the proposal, James W. Giddens, has quietly identified a way that, if approved by the judge, could plug the remaining shortfall for customers in the United States, according to people involved in the case.
The broad push to make MF Global customers nearly whole, a goal now surprisingly within reach, is a remarkable turnaround from the firm’s Halloween 2011 bankruptcy filing when such a recovery seemed impossible.
“I’m surprised that, magically, the money has shown up,” said Mr. Desai, a software account executive who, like most customers in the United States who traded futures contracts, has only 80 percent of his money. “I feel very relieved.”
“This is the eighth-largest bankruptcy in history and we’ve been able to sprint ahead on some occasions, but this is a marathon,” Mr. Giddens’s spokesman, Kent Jarrell, said in a statement.
The deal, if approved by the bankruptcy judge on Thursday, will enable Mr. Giddens to return up to 93 percent of the money of MF Global’s United States customers. If a series of settlements with JPMorgan and other firms fall into place, people involved in the case said, Mr. Giddens could ultimately return 100 percent of the missing money.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/mf-globals-bankruptcy-closes-in-on-a-happy-conclusion/