MF Global Inc. has distributed about $3.8 billion so far and has about $1.5 billion under its control, while there’s still $1.2 billion missing, according to the trustee for the failed brokerage.
About 100 customers gathered Thursday at the New York Marriott Downtown hotel to hear James Giddens, the trustee appointed to liquidate the brokerage, describe his investigation. A lawyer for the trustee said the probe has involved imaging more than 800 computer drives and maintaining over 100 terabytes of data, more information than the Library of Congress contains.
“We’re looking at a wide variety of institutions, individuals, the holding company” and other parties to try to claw back property for distribution to customers, said the lawyer, James Kobak.
Giddens said assets are divided into four categories: those of U.S. commodity customers, those of U.S. security customers, foreign units and general estate property.
In the largest pool, the trustee has control of about $1.4 billion and has already distributed $3.8 billion, or 72 percent of what is owed to commodity customers. For security customers, the trustee has $418 million to satisfy claims worth an estimated $488 million. In foreign units, it has $849 million, subject to various disputes. In the general estate property there is $290 million, which Giddens said probably isn’t enough to satisfy claims.
