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Alternative Market Briefing

Legality of MF Global asset transfer questioned

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

amb
James Koutoulas
Mark Melin, Opalesque Chicago - Commodity Customer Coalition founder James Koutoulas is demanding investor’s rights in spotlighting three potential legal issues that are said to have occurred in handling of MF Global assets.

The first such non-transparent movement of assets occurred when JP Morgan is said to have purchased MF Global’s Sovereign Debt for $0.89 and then selling that debt to investor George Soros for $0.95, yielding close to a 6% profit for a day’s work, reminding some of those filling orders in a trading pit during the 1980s. This is 2011, times have changed. Where JP Morgan may be in trouble is in that transactions with these assets were not reported to bankruptcy trustees or the court and permission was not officially granted to sell the assets, according to Mr. Koutoulas.

"Who gave JP Morgan permission to re-sell those bonds?" questioned Mr. Koutoulas.

The second questionable movement of assets is said to have occurred when JP Morgan purchased MF Global’s stake in the London Metals Exchange (LME) without proper disclosure.

"Was this disclosed in court?" Mr. Koutoulas rhetorically asked. "No. Was their trustee approval? No."

The third issue occurred in congressional testimony where it was discovered JP Morgan asked the Federal Reserve to write a letter claiming that the segregated funds should not be categorized as client money, according to Mr. Koutoulas.

"How many letters like this have they asked for in the past," Kout......................

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