WASHINGTON — MF Global, Jon Corzine’s embattled securities firm, moved millions in missing client funds last week and tried to avoid detection, a regulator said Wednesday.
MF apparently made “substantial transfers” of customer money after an audit last week, said the regulator, CME Group, a private company that oversees firms such as MF Global on behalf of federal regulators. It also operates exchanges where MF Global traded investments.
The money was moved in a way that “may have been designed to avoid detection,” CME said in a statement.
MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection Monday after a disastrous bet on European debt.
MF Global is one of the top sources of contributions for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, complicating the campaign’s effort to turn public anger at Wall Street into a political advantage, The Washington Post reported.
Employees of the company have given $108,650 to Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, according to federal records.
