“I’m flabbergasted. The bottom line is, there’s going to be a haircut involved. It’s devastating, what this has done to the industry.”-Tom Ward, retired Chicago Board of Trade member whose two sons have been blocked from accessing their money

Officials with MF Global, formerly Man Financial, are now admitting that they lost much more money than first reported. They’re now saying they lost $1.2 billion!

“What did the CFTC know three weeks ago and what do they know now?  If the amount has changed that much over three weeks, where did the money go? What were (regulators) looking at before?”-Tim Butler, attorney representing group of MF Global customers

MF Global originated in England, but after several moves, ended up in New York City in 2009.  They were a primary trader of U.S. sovereign debt (bonds).

Regulators have taken over the company, and are now liquidating it. The process has frozen $5.45 billion of customers’ money!

MF Global says they lost the money making a bad trade deal with the very bonds they deal with!  The latest reports say that MF Global may have used its customers’ investment money to make the deals for itself, a violation of regulations.

Investors are trying to get their money back, so far it takes hiring an attorney, but not everyone can do that: “Unlike the big banks, the average farmer who lost money in this fiasco can’t afford to hire an attorney and attend proceedings in a Manhattan courtroom.”-Chuck Grassley, U.S. Senator from Iowa

MF Global filed bankruptcy on October 31.