Financial News: PFGBest (FCM) Commodity Accounts Frozen after $220Million in Clients' Funds Evapor

PFGBest, a commodity Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) is going the way of MF Global after $220 Million in Customer Segregated Funds end up missing and the firm's founder, Russ Wasendorf, Sr attempts suicide prompting suspicion of "accounting irregularities" and the CFTC freezes all customer accounts. In the wake of the MF Global debacle (where no one has been criminally charged btw) this does not enhance the integrity of the commodity brokerage industry and the security of customers' funds remains a real concern. The CFTC needs to do more to secure (even insure) client funds; specifically, no co-mingling of customer accounts with the firm's proprietary trading accounts and all funds should be kept in short term treasury bills (no risk taking by the FCM).

So Jesus said to them, "Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were utterly amazed at him.

reply to post by CosmicCitizen


Sounds sexy so I did some googling and found an article about it, www.futuresmag.com... My favorite part is the end,

One PFG customer we spoke with said that he saw a potential red flag back in June when a check from the firm did not clear. PFG indicated that it was simply a technical glitch and the check cleared a day later.

Other articles,
www.ibtimes.com...
www.zerohedge.com...
thestockmarketwatch.com...
link

Originally posted by Swills
reply to post by CosmicCitizen

 

Sounds sexy so I did some googling and found an article about it, www.futuresmag.com... My favorite part is the end,

One PFG customer we spoke with said that he saw a potential red flag back in June when a check from the firm did not clear. PFG indicated that it was simply a technical glitch and the check cleared a day later.

edit on 9-7-2012 by Swills because: (no reason given)

Wait a second... this sounds a lot like my paychecks

2nd verse same as the first

reply to post by Swills

Thanks for posting the Futures Magazine article. I tried to post a link to the Reuters story (on someone else's laptop and was unable to do so). Other sources are The Chicago Sun Times and Peter Brandt of the Research & Trading Services (as posted on Zero Hedge I believe).

this makes me sick. And you know whats going to happen, no one is going to go to jail. good ol slap on the hand with a wink and a nod and everyone goes home scott free.

steal food, go to jail for 5 years. steal $500 million dollars... you get the picture. Wish i was a banker

reply to post by camaro68ss

FWIW, PFG Best's Banker is JP Morgan......I wonder if James Pierpont Morgan was related to Capt Morgan, the pirate (perhaps JP Morgan knows what happened to the money).

Aaand it's gone!

There really should be a list of these bankers somewhere. Would love to send them bad vibes or something.. Maybe start using their names in place of cuss words. Needs pictures too so we can make memes and plaster them on the internet.

reply to post by Goldcurrent

The South Park banking spook seems appropos here as well. Trading commodities is risky enough without having to worry whether or not your money is safe in a Customer Segregated Account.

Hey wait I thought for sure no futures firm would attempt anything like this after how vigorously Jon Corzine and MF Global were prosecuted after the failure of that firm last October. Oh wait......

At first glance this looks like a typical ponzi style scheme. More Madoff than MF Global, but still proof that the regulators are still watching more porn than actually auditing these firms. I saw on either ZH or TF that there is some evidence that this was going on since 2010. It's quite obvious that the agencies in charge of regulating these brokerages are not doing their job at all.

I’m a customer of PFGbest.

A good portion of my savings is or was supposed to be in that account (USBANK)
This is such Bull**** I hope the Fu**er dies a slow painful death.
This is the email I received yesterday but didn’t open till this morning.

I’m screwd!!!!!

Monday, July 9, 2012
Due to a recent emergency involving Russell R. Wasendorf, Sr., a suicide attempt, some accounting irregularities are being investigated regarding company accounts. PFGBEST is wholly owned by Mr. Wasendorf. Therefore, the NFA and other officials have put all funds on hold, and PFGBEST is in liquidation-only status with our clearing FCM. What this means is no customers are able to trade except to liquidate positions. Until further notice, PFGBEST is not authorized to release any funds. We will update you as any new procedures are stipulated and with any further information as it becomes available.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Please note that NFA has posted a message on their website specifically for PFGBEST customers. The website includes contact numbers at NFA for customers of PFGBEST customers who are looking for additional information about their accounts.

www.nfa.futures.org...

LOL check this out!!!

Look who sits on the National Futures Association Merchant Advisory committee:

Russell R. Wasendorf Sr. CEO PFG Best Chicago, Illinois (term ending February 2015)

That would be hilarious if it weren't so damned endemic in the FIRE (Finance Insurance and Real Estate) segment of our economy.