A bankruptcy trustee sifting through the remains of MF Global Holdings Ltd. expressed confidence that the failed securities firm's U.S. customers will get all their money back, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In written testimony submitted to the Senate Agriculture Committee for a hearing today, trustee Louis J. Freeh said that farmers, ranchers, traders and other investors still owed an estimated $1.6 billion "eventually will be made whole." After MF Global collapsed in October under the weight of a customer panic caused by the New York company's giant bets on European debt, investigators worried they might never recover the missing customer money. The shortfall occurred when MF Global dipped into customer accounts as it scrambled to stay alive. Prosecutors and regulators are trying to determine who is responsible for withdrawing money from the customer accounts, which under U.S. rules should have been kept separate from MF Global's own money. Freeh, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has been working to recover as much money as possible for creditors of the defunct company, while trustee James Giddens is trying to recoup funds for its U.S. brokerage firm's customers.
For further details on the hearing, including the witness list and prepared testimony, please click here:
http://www.ag.senate.gov/hearings/examining-the-futures-markets-respond…