While the industry has rallied in the wake of the PFGBest scandal, calling for a wide breadth of reforms, a more pressing matter must be addressed today.
The customer segregated funds held by PFGBest at Jefferies, and confirmed as valid and on deposit by Jefferies, remain frozen and unavailable to clients.
Not a day goes by that we don’t receive emails from a dozen different PFGBest clients whose lives are now in shambles. They were traders and farmers – hard working people who never deserved any of this – and despite these funds being confirmed as the property of these victims they wait, day after day, for even an initial pro-rata disbursement.
Consider that the trustee in the MFGlobal case had clients trading again within five days. Consider that he was able to make the first cash disbursement within 11 days. Consider that MFGlobal had a shortfall of $1.6 billion in customer funds, whereas the shortfall here is only $220 million. Consider that MFGlobal was a complex and diversified public firm with dozens of bank accounts, whereas PFGBest was a “pure,” privately held FCM.
Now explain to us why the customers still haven’t seen a dime of their money after 19 days since PFGBest declared bankruptcy.
Those of you who have been following along with our coverage on the blog know that Attain is working night and day to defend the interest of our clients, but now, we need YOUR help.
We have emailed leadership at the National Futures Association, Managed Funds Association, Futures Industry Association, Commodity Customer Coalition, National Introducing Broker Association, and the CFTC, asking them to make a release. We have emailed the trustee directly. But we are only one person.
Below, we have listed the email addresses of all parties of interest. If no email address is available, we’ve included their phone numbers. We are asking you to lobby the trustee on behalf of those affected by this scandal to immediately release, by way of bulk transfer, at least the $125 million publicly confirmed by Jefferies, if not the entire $180 million of customer funds verified by the NFA. If you, yourself, have been impacted, share your story – give a face to the victims.
We need to make sure the trustee understands the significance of each day he delays an initial pro-rata disbursement. We have the power to make that happen, if we can come together. We hope you’ll join us in these efforts.
|
NFA |
FIA |
| Chairman of the Board | President and Chief Executive Officer |
| Christopher K. Hehmeyer (312) 327-4105 | Walter L. Lukken (202) 466-5460 Extension 105 |
| wlukken@futuresindustry.org | |
| Vice-Chairman of the Board | |
| Paul J. Georgy (815) 363-5500 | Executive Vice President & General Counsel |
| Barbara Wierzynski (202) 466-5460 Extension 108 | |
| Permanent Special Advisor | bwierzynski@futuresindustry.org |
| Leo Melamed (312) 930-3310 | |
| Executive Vice President, Industry Relations | |
| Gerald F. Corcoran (312) 373-5050 | Mary Ann Burns (202) 466-5460 Extension 102 |
| maburns@futuresindustry.org | |
| Scott A. Cordes (651) 355-6550 | |
| Senior Vice President, CFO & COO | |
| Michael C. Dawley (212) 902-7582 | Guy Sheetz (202) 466-5460 Extension 115 |
| gsheetz@futuresindustry.org | |
| Maureen C. Downs (312) 795-7998 | |
| Senior Advisor | |
| W. Robert Felker (312) 732-4174 | John M. Damgard (202) 466-5460 Extension 159 |
| jdamgard@futuresindustry.org | |
|
CCC |
|
| William F. McCoy (914) 225-5540 | John L. Roe |
| jroe@btrtrading.com | |
| Douglas Bry (303) 980-3423 | |
|
CFTC |
|
| Bruce L. Cleland (443) 255-3824 | Chairman Gary Gensler (202) 418-5050 |
| George E. Crapple (203) 625-8213 | Commissioner Jill E. Sommers (202) 418-5030 |
| Ernest L. Jaffarian (630) 657-6801 | Commissioner Bart Chilton (202) 418-5060 |
| Paul J. Georgy (815) 363-5500 | Commissioner Scott D O’Malia (202) 418-5870 |
| John A. Vassallo (214) 219-7555 | Commissioner Mark P. Wetjen (202) 418-5010 |
| John F. Sandner (312) 930-1221 |
NIBA |
| Melinda Schramm, MHS Capital Resource, Inc. | |
| David S. Goone (312) 836-6710 | melinda@futuresrep.com |
| Jeffrey C. Borchardt (816) 753-7500 | John Jensen, Heritage West Financial, Inc. |
| jjensen@hwfi.com | |
| Mark G. Bagan (612) 321-7166 | |
| Buck Haworth, Born Capital Financial Services | |
| Ronald H. Filler (973) 495-8609 | buck@borncapital.com |
| William N. Goetzmann (203) 432-5950 | Mike Burke, High Ground Trading |
| mikeb@highgroundtrading.com | |
| Douglas E. Harris (212) 365-6568 | |
| Bill Purpura, Great Lakes Trading | |
| Silas Keehn (847) 509-2757 | wpurpura@gltdirect.com |
| Jim Marshall (478) 973-3333 | Rich Strait, Richard Strait, LLC |
| rich@straitllc.com | |
| Michael H. Moskow (312) 821-6851 | |
| Rodney Dow, The Dow Corporation | |
| Ronald S. Oppenheimer (713) 230-1020 | rodney@thedowcorp.com |
| Todd E. Petzel (212) 588-3244 | Steve Petillo, Coquest |
| petillo@coquest.com | |
|
MFA |
|
| President and Chief Executive Officer | Kevin F. O’Brien, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney |
| Richard H. Baker | kevin.f.obrien@mssb.com |
| rbaker@managedfunds.org | |
| Ralph Preston, Heritage West Financial | |
| Executive Vice President | rpreston@hwfi.com |
| Marc Charon | |
| mcharon@managedfunds.org | Kristi Aupperle, Advance Trading |
| kaupperle@advance-trading.com | |
| President Emeritus | |
| John G. Gaine | Ian Sweet, Sweet Futures |
| jgaine@managedfunds.org | isweet@sweetfutures.com |
| Executive Vice President | John DeMartino, FC Stone |
| D. Brooke Harlow | john.demartino@fcstone.com |
| bharlow@managedfunds.org | |
| Barbara Schmidt-Bailey, CME Group | |
| Executive Vice President | barbara.schmidt-bailey@cmegroup.com |
| Roger Hollingsworth | |
| rhollingsworth@managedfunds.org | |
| Executive Vice President | |
| Stuart J. Kaswell | |
| skaswell@managedfunds.org |