04.11.2011

 Bankruptcy of the investment company MF Global caught close attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FBI, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as it became the first victim of the European crisis in the USA.

It is all turning into a larger corporate scandal. Regulators are trying to understand where part of the money of the company’s former clients is located, how fair was presentation of accounting information on the company’s activities in Europe, and if the company’s transactions with their clients’ funds were always legal. Meanwhile, some experts already compared bankruptcy of MF Global with bankruptcy of Bear Stearns in March 2008 which acted as a clear sign of worsening of the situation on financial markets several months after.

According to WSJ, Jon Corzine (former head of MF Global) may be brought to liability if the SEC’s inspection reveals that his company didn’t inform on all the risks arising from investments on European markets. From 2006 to 2010 Jon Corzine used to hold the post of New Jersey’s governor, and in 1994-1999 he was in charge in Goldman Sachs.

The FBI also joined the investigation. It wants to find out where 600 to 900 million dollars went. MF Global used to work not only on capital, but also on goods and futures markets – that’s the reason its bankruptcy also caught attention of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. According to Bloomberg, the CFTC already sent a special request for information.