Has there ever been a more appropriately named derivatives firm than MF Global?

MF Global Customers Can’t Get Cash or Answers
By Tiffany Kary - Nov 11, 2011 12:00 AM ET


(Bloomberg) Ted Monjure, a 48-year-old Manhattan trader who has $27,252 frozen in a former MF Global Inc. account, said he is considering pulling his money out of his three other trading accounts.

“I’m a high net-worth person, and I don’t want to see $1 million get smoked by another misunderstanding,” Monjure said, recounting how he’d thought the Securities Investor Protection Corp. covered any losses due to a meltdown such as that at MF Global. He’s now been told SIPC may not cover the money because it was in a futures account and faces months of uncertainty as he files a claim seeking recoveries.

Monjure is one of many customers who can’t access cash in the segregated accounts they once thought were safer than bank deposits and just as accessible. Frustrated by a lack of legal options to reclaim frozen funds and dead-end inquiries to call centers and hotlines since MF Global’s Oct. 31 bankruptcy, many are not able to trade and say they’ve lost faith in retail brokerages and the regulatory system.

More than 150,000 customer accounts were frozen Oct. 31, with $5.45 billion affected, the day after a unit of the New York-based brokerage reported a “material shortfall” in customer funds that are required to be segregated under rules of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-11/mf-global-clients-frustrated-as-bankruptcy-keeps-assets-and-options-frozen.html