Quote from DataCruncher:
what other internal control incidents besides the wheat trader who had a huge loss?
By Matthew Leising
June 13 (Bloomberg) -- MF Global Ltd., the futures broker
that lost $141 million earlier this year on unauthorized wheat
trades, said it has set aside $10 million for potential civil
penalties from U.S. regulatory probes.
The company today disclosed two investigations into natural-
gas trades it helped facilitate. The U.S. Attorney's Office in
New York is probing over-the-counter gas trades of a customer,
the Bank of Montreal. In addition, the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission sent a so-called Wells notice in May, saying it may
recommend legal action over two natural-gas trades in 2004,
according to MF Global's regulatory filing.
``It seems like MF Global didn't have good control systems,
they're getting burned more than once. It wasn't just the wheat
trades,'' said Bruce Weber, a finance professor at the London
Business School. The $10 million set aside ``is a material
amount. They're not a giant broker that can absorb something like
that easily.''
MF Global Sets Aside $10 Million for Trading Probes (Correct)
The unauthorized wheat trades, disclosed in February, are
being investigated by the CFTC and the U.S. Attorney's Office in
Chicago, the company said previously.
MF Global also faces five lawsuits that have been
consolidated into a class action related to the wheat trades by
former broker Evan Dooley, the company said in the filing. MF
Global, the world's largest broker of exchange-traded
derivatives, initially reported losing $141.5 million on the
wheat trades and today reduced that to $141 million.
Grand Jury Probe
The natural-gas trades related to Bank of Montreal are also
being investigated by a New York County grand jury. An unnamed
BMO trader, using a broker at MF Global, ``allegedly mismarked
his book,'' MF Global said, meaning he entered incorrect or false
trade data.
The Bank of Montreal last year lost $618 million in natural-
gas trades, the largest loss ever by a Canadian bank. The bank
said last May it had ``increased concerns'' about the reliability
of quotes from its main broker, Optionable Inc. After increasing
the size of its loss, BMO said it was investigating ``whether any
potential irregularities in trading and valuation took place,''
according to a May 17, 2007 statement.
The CFTC and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are
also involved in the investigation, MF Global said. Neither MF
Global nor its broker have been named as targets of the probe,
the company said.
I'm not going to post the entire article from my terminal, i'm sure bloomberg's website has the same article