12.13.11

Hoeven Statement on Today's U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing on the MF Global Bankruptcy

WASHINGTON – Senator Hoeven today issued the following statement in response to testimony at the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee hearing on MF Global, a brokerage firm that declared bankruptcy in October. Bankruptcy trustees currently estimate the company has a shortfall of $1.2 billion in customer accounts. 

“Clearly, MF Global needs to be held accountable for any customer segregated funds that were lost when the company declared bankruptcy this fall. So far, about 72 percent of customer assets have been recovered. The Department of Justice is investigating to determine whether accounting errors were made or unauthorized transfers were made from customer accounts to the company’s accounts. 

“We need to do all we can to see that 100 percent of those customer accounts are restored. We also need to get to the bottom of what happened and why, make sure there is proper accountability, and also determine what may need to be changed to see that this doesn’t happen again. Farmers, ranchers and small businesses need to be able to use the commodity markets with confidence.”