PFGBest Update: Time to Turn Up the Heat

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

 

3 comments

  1. Is anyone doing anything about the Ira Bodenstein embezzlement? He just asked the court for $25M for expenses last week. Of course that money is going to come out of the money owed us. Is anything going to be left by the time he’s done with his and PWC’s top dollar billing??

  2. Messages have been left requesting return calls/emails with detailed action plans from all. Please keep the heat on the $%^$%.

  3. Great website. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And of course, thank you to your effort!

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See the full terms of use and risk disclaimer here.

Disclaimer
The performance data displayed herein is compiled from various sources, including BarclayHedge, and reports directly from the advisors. These performance figures should not be relied on independent of the individual advisor's disclosure document, which has important information regarding the method of calculation used, whether or not the performance includes proprietary results, and other important footnotes on the advisor's track record.

The programs listed here are a sub-set of the full list of programs able to be accessed by subscribing to the database and reflect programs we currently work with and/or are more familiar with.

Benchmark index performance is for the constituents of that index only, and does not represent the entire universe of possible investments within that asset class. And further, that there can be limitations and biases to indices such as survivorship, self reporting, and instant history. Individuals cannot invest in the index itself, and actual rates of return may be significantly different and more volatile than those of the index.

Managed futures accounts can subject to substantial charges for management and advisory fees. The numbers within this website include all such fees, but it may be necessary for those accounts that are subject to these charges to make substantial trading profits in the future to avoid depletion or exhaustion of their assets.

Investors interested in investing with a managed futures program (excepting those programs which are offered exclusively to qualified eligible persons as that term is defined by CFTC regulation 4.7) will be required to receive and sign off on a disclosure document in compliance with certain CFT rules The disclosure documents contains a complete description of the principal risk factors and each fee to be charged to your account by the CTA, as well as the composite performance of accounts under the CTA's management over at least the most recent five years. Investor interested in investing in any of the programs on this website are urged to carefully read these disclosure documents, including, but not limited to the performance information, before investing in any such programs.

Those investors who are qualified eligible persons as that term is defined by CFTC regulation 4.7 and interested in investing in a program exempt from having to provide a disclosure document and considered by the regulations to be sophisticated enough to understand the risks and be able to interpret the accuracy and completeness of any performance information on their own.

RCM receives a portion of the commodity brokerage commissions you pay in connection with your futures trading and/or a portion of the interest income (if any) earned on an account's assets. The listed manager may also pay RCM a portion of the fees they receive from accounts introduced to them by RCM.

Limitations on RCM Quintile + Star Rankings

The Quintile Rankings and RCM Star Rankings shown here are provided for informational purposes only. RCM does not guarantee the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of this information. The ranking methodology is proprietary and the results have not been audited or verified by an independent third party. Some CTAs may employ trading programs or strategies that are riskier than others. CTAs may manage customer accounts differently than their model results shown or make different trades in actual customer accounts versus their own accounts. Different CTAs are subject to different market conditions and risks that can significantly impact actual results. RCM and its affiliates receive compensation from some of the rated CTAs. Investors should perform their own due diligence before investing with any CTA. This ranking information should not be the sole basis for any investment decision.

See the full terms of use and risk disclaimer here.

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