Nobody saw it coming because nobody was looking. That’s what happens with light touch regulation, they are supposed to all behave themselves, of course they are all just doing as much scamming as they think they can get away with. Occasionally they get caught like FXCM or Forex.com.
It’s unfortunate because if one retail broker is doing it, who’s to say the others aren’t doing the same (using customer’s money to trade)…and the retail brokers are how the average person can get into the game it seems.
Now to find another broker…hoping Oanda is a little more credible and that their leader isn’t another former bankrupt executive trying to make a comeback! :49:
As a Canadian you should be made whole. I’m not sure of the details though. When Refco Canada went under 5(?) years ago, my account was frozen for several months. Then MF Global Canada :17: took over my account and everything was OK. The American customers only got something like 10% of their funds and it took a year.
PS - I didn’t stick with MF Global Canada because they didn’t have mini accounts and MT4.
Thanks for that…hopefully it will work it’s self out. Lots of employees lost their jobs by the sounds of it…a couple of thousand.
MF Global had MT4 and mini accounts when I signed up a couple of years ago. Who are you with now if you don`t mind me asking?
FXDD Malta
Thanks!..I just contacted them and they do accept BC residents, and they have MT4, and micro accounts!! Said they’d expedite my application… and that our funds are segregated and they don’t invest outside like MF (so they say 
)
Sorry about your account… the first warning I can recall was from ZH on oct 26 after second quarter results
This is amusing. I applied for their trading internship at their prime brokerage and they never called me back. I’m pretty happy about that now 
I wonder how long it will take to get your money back…
Not sure about the Canadian system but apparently in the UK it can take almost a year. Pretty bad but at least the money isnt totally lost.
Wonder no more…got home today to find a cheque in the mail for 100% of my account balance
Ironic part is, the cheque is in US Funds and, looking at the charts, the USDCAD exchange rate is falling back towards par now …arrrgh
Here’s a timeline of the decline and fall of MF Global, taken from the current online issue of Futures Magazine.
For the complete article, click here — MF Global fails; industry takes hit - Financials - Futures Magazine
In the print version of Futures Magazine, this timeline is laid out horizontally, across two pages — which makes the gray bars of the price histogram, as well as the gray dates and the gray price scale, more recognizable.
It’s remarkable how quickly Jon Corzine destroyed this firm — less than 20 months from the time he was hired, until the firm declared bankruptcy.
Will he go to jail?
Not a chance. Look at this excerpt from Maria Bartiromo’s book, The Weekend That Changed Wall Street —
http://forums.babypips.com/rate-my-broker/36221-going-offshore-escape-cftc-60.html#post242219
Scan the names in that excerpt. Every one of those folks is part of the Ruling Class Elite. They will never be held accountable for anything. They are untouchable.
Corzine was on track to become the next Secretary of the Treasury (if Obama happened to be reelected). Hopefully, Obama is political dead-meat. But, Corzine may still be on the fast-track for some senior government post.
That’s why they call it Government Sachs.
p.s. – Sweet Pip, I’m glad to hear that you came out of this mess in one piece. I’m curious to know whether you were paid by MF Global (Canada), by the Canadian government, or by the B.C. government.
One thing is for sure: the myth of segregated customer funds in U.S. futures accounts has been exposed.
Gary Gensler (who has recused himself from testifying about CFTC oversight and regulation in the MF Global affair) should concentrate on cleaning up the problems in futures regulation, and keep his nose out of retail forex.
Good update Clint…thanks!
The cheque is actually from KPMG (Ontario I think…will update if different when I get home and have a better look) - an accounting firm that specializes in tax & auditing…they’re big…we use them here at the municipal gov’t level where I work.
Poor MF Global…they didn’t realize what they hired and all it got them was, as in football terms…sached!
I never [I]intended[/I] to be a crook.
I just wanted to be a big success.
Like Bernie Madoff.
Lol Win.
I hate how the wife of bernie’s son said oh you sob you killed him your the reason he committed suicide. This is after she took the money.
Here’s a 30-minute video from [I]Frontline[/I] on the trades that caused the collapse of [B]MF Global,[/B] and on the criminal activity of [B]Jon Corzine[/B] in using “segregated” customer funds for his own purposes — Six Billion Dollar Bet
[I]Frontline[/I] says that this video is a continuation of their Money, Power and Wall Street documentay.
If you haven’t seen [I]Money, Power and Wall Street,[/I] you should take a look. It’s a 4-part video series, altogether 4 hours long, but well worth the time.
CFTC enforcement action against MF Global, Jon Corzine and Edith O’Brien.
Here’s a copy-and-paste of a short excerpt from the press release:
"Settlement of charges against MF Global, subject to court approval, directs payment of all funds still owed to commodity customers and imposes a $100 million penalty against the company
"Washington, DC - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today filed an enforcement action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against MF Global Inc. (MF Global), a registered futures commission merchant (FCM), MF Global Holdings Ltd. (Holdings), former Chief Executive Officer of MF Global and Holdings Jon S. Corzine, and former Assistant Treasurer of MF Global Edith O’Brien based on, among other violations, MF Global’s unlawful use of customer funds that harmed thousands of customers and violated fundamental customer protection laws on an unprecedented scale.
“MF Global has agreed to settle all charges against it on terms set forth in a proposed order that is subject to court approval and includes 100% restitution of the approximately $1 billion lost by all commodity customers when the firm failed on October 31, 2011.”
Further down in the same press release:
“The CFTC also seeks full restitution and penalties against Holdings, Corzine, and O’Brien, in addition to trading and registration bans and injunctions against Corzine and O’Brien.”
So, has Corzine been banned from the financial industry for life? Well, sort of.
Will he be stripped of his wealth? Don’t bet on it.
Will he go to jail? Not a chance.
The good news is that the [I]customers[/I] of this rogue outfit may finally be made whole.
This is the sort of thing that the CFTC [I]should[/I] be doing — rather than harassing forex brokers [I]in other countries.[/I]
The settlement negotiated between the CFTC and MF Global (which I posted about, on June 28) has been approved by the federal court.
If the CFTC’s press release can be believed, all of MF Global’s customers (both forex and futures customers) will finally be able to withdraw their funds, in full. Those funds have been tied up in the receivership process since late 2011, when MF Global filed for bankruptcy.
The press release says, in part:
Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) obtained a federal court consent Order against Defendant MF Global Inc. (MF Global) requiring it to pay $1.212 billion in restitution to customers of MF Global to ensure customers recover their losses sustained when MF Global failed in 2011.
Gretchen Lowe, Acting Director of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement, stated, “Division staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that 100 percent restitution be awarded to satisfy customer losses. The CFTC will continue to ensure that those who violate U.S. commodity laws and regulations designed to protect customer funds will be vigorously prosecuted.”
Here’s a link to the entire press release —
.
The final disposition of the [B]Jon Corzine[/B] case has been reached.
• Corzine will be banned (for life) from any association with a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM),
and from registering in any capacity with the CFTC.
• Corzine will pay a [I]slap-on-the-wrist[/I] fine of $5 million.
• Corzine will not go to prison.
Here is the CFTC Press Release
If you scroll back to post #26 (dated June 26, 2013) in this thread, you will see these predictions:
Why is a $5 million fine a [I]slap on the wrist?[/I] Because Corzine is still worth an estimated $300 million.
The fine is less than 1.7% of Corzine’s net worth — for misappropriating $1 Billion in customer funds, and bankrupting a major commodity futures brokerage firm. The fine is a joke.
If you’ve forgotten the details of the Corzine / MF scandal, here’s a short video (dated May 22, 2012) that tells the story:
.
He’s baaaaaaack!
Jon Corzine bankrupted a major commodities brokerage firm – MF Global – by criminally misappropriating $1 Billion of supposedly-segregated customer funds, and betting those funds on a sovereign debt position which leveraged the firm 40:1.
When it all unraveled and the dust had cleared, Corzine was fined $5 million and banned from any participation in the financial industry requiring CFTC registration.
That was no obstacle to Corzine’s future plans: He was intent on either running for president, or starting his own hedge fund, neither of which would require the blessing of the CFTC.
Fortunately for America, Corzine (a former Governor of New Jersey) did not venture back into politics. Instead, he’s going to do the hedge fund thing. And, incredibly, there are people willing to invest money with this scoundrel.
In this month’s issue of Modern Trader magazine, Daniel Collins has written a short piece on the reappearance of Corzine on the financial scene, titled: MF Global is gone, but Corzine may return (subtitled: Is this bad actor planning his next performance?)
Here’s a paragraph from the Collins article in Modern Trader:
**"**One of the heartbreaking elements we discussed covering the MF Global debacle was the number of folks who, in the midst of MF Global’s troubles, left their accounts alone, secure in the fact that their money was safe, even if the firm failed. It was an anecdote many introducing brokers (IBs) shared with me as they contemplated the likelihood of MF Global’s collapse. “Don’t worry, even if the broker fails, your funds are safely segregated,” they told their customers. And why wouldn’t MF Global customers — including farmers, feedlot operators, investors with commodity trading advisors, and IBs — believe it? It was what the exchanges, FCMs, IBs and Futures magazine told them.
**"**One man turned us all into liars. That man was MF Global Chairman and CEO Jon Corzine … "
For more on the MF Global scandal, scroll back to the beginning of this thread.
Here’s a link to a PBS video on Corzine and how he destroyed MF Global –
One has to wonder:
Why is this guy not in prison? — He should be sharing a cell with Bernie Madoff.