Regulators Know Where MF Global's $1.2 Billion Went, They Just Won't Tell
People in Washington are pretty curious to know just how MF Global (and the rest of the industry it worked in) could lose track of $1.2 billion, but regulators looking into the matter are here to report that they know where the money is, they just aren't telling you. Jill Sommers, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's review of MF Global, tells Reuters today that they have "a full picture" of the money trail:
"We are far enough along the trail that we know where all the money went. Now it's just finding out which ones of those transactions are legitimate and which ones of them are illegitimate," said Jill Sommers, who is heading the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's review of MF Global.
"We certainly don't want to lead anyone to believe we don't know what happened. We do know, and we see where all the transactions went," she said.
Reuters notes that Congressmen have been pressuring the regulators to clear up this little accounting shortfall as the firm gets liquidated, but Sommers says they won't reveal much more until they solve that issue of "legitimacy." This of course comes on this week's news from Jon Corzine, MF Global's former chief, that he "simply do[es] not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date." So, at least we can rest easy knowing that even if he doesn't know, (and what Corzine knows is somewhat contested), someone else does.
