All right then you arrogant, 1% bastard…we’re gonna drag your arse to prison, beat and kick you on the way then throw you in a cold dark cell until you start to get a little bit of clarity on the subject….if I’m a midwest farmer, these statements just aren’t gonna fly….and when your arse is sitting on the seat in Congress next week….no one leaves the room until every question is answered….these are simply not answers that are acceptable:
I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled
to date.
I do not know which accounts are unreconciled or whether the unreconciled accounts
were or were not subject to the segregation rules.
Moreover, there were an extraordinary number of transactions during MF Global’s last few days, and I do not know, for example, whether there
were operational errors at MF Global or elsewhere, or whether banks and counterparties have held onto funds that should rightfully have been returned to MF Global.
I am sure that the trustee in bankruptcy, the SIPC receiver, and the regulators are working to answer these questions and to understand precisely what happened during the firm’s last days and hours.
One of the recurrent themes in the media has been that MF Global took on too much risk
during my tenure, in particular the amount of leverage that MF Global bore at the time of its
bankruptcy. In fact, MF Global reduced leverage. In the quarter ended March 31, 2010, MF
Global’s leverage was 37.3. During my tenure, it was consistently around 30.7
For instance, for the year ending March 31, 2010, the company reported that it was carrying over $9
billion in foreign government securities, including both foreign securities owned outright and
those sold to counterparties under repurchase agreements.10
