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Mf Global’s burned commodity customers turned their ire from Jon Corzine to Jamie Dimon yesterday after MF’s creditor committee, led by Dimon’s JPMorgan Chase, objected to a plan to distribute $2.1 billion to customers who have seen their accounts frozen since Halloween.
In a Manhattan bankruptcy court filing, the creditors committee, which also includes Bank of America and hedge fund Elliott Management, said they want more assurances that the $2.1 billion is not their money.
Among their requests: They want customers to agree in writing that the money they receive could be clawed back.
James Giddens, the trustee responsible for helping the brokerage customers recover their assets, moved last week to return the $2.1 billion to customers — many of whom use their accounts to pay monthly bills — in the coming weeks. The judge is expected to rule on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ruled to make it tougher, if not impossible, for commodity futures firms to dip into customer’s cash accounts.
The CFTC, which regulates commodities, voted unanimously to forbid futures brokerage firms from using customers’ cash to trade risky assets, like foreign sovereign debt, among other changes.
It’s not clear whether this rule would have prevented thousands of MF’s customers from seeing their assets frozen after up to $1.2 billion in funds supposedly vanished following MF’s collapse, but some regulators have said it could have done the trick.
The CFTC had shelved the rule earlier this year amid opposition from executives, including MF’s now-disgraced CEO, Corzine.
Corzine, who has not been seen publicly since he resigned from MF last month, is scheduled to make his first appearance on Thursday before the House agriculture committee.
Tamara Hinton, the committee’s spokeswoman, said the subpoena calling for his attendance “has been issued and served.”
Two other congressional committees will also vote this week on whether to subpoena him.