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.
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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 |
| [email protected] | |
| 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 | [email protected] |
| Leo Melamed (312) 930-3310 | |
| Executive Vice President, Industry Relations | |
| Gerald F. Corcoran (312) 373-5050 | Mary Ann Burns (202) 466-5460 Extension 102 |
| [email protected] | |
| Scott A. Cordes (651) 355-6550 | |
| Senior Vice President, CFO & COO | |
| Michael C. Dawley (212) 902-7582 | Guy Sheetz (202) 466-5460 Extension 115 |
| [email protected] | |
| Maureen C. Downs (312) 795-7998 | |
| Senior Advisor | |
| W. Robert Felker (312) 732-4174 | John M. Damgard (202) 466-5460 Extension 159 |
| [email protected] | |
|
CCC |
|
| William F. McCoy (914) 225-5540 | John L. Roe |
| [email protected] | |
| 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 | [email protected] |
| Jeffrey C. Borchardt (816) 753-7500 | John Jensen, Heritage West Financial, Inc. |
| [email protected] | |
| Mark G. Bagan (612) 321-7166 | |
| Buck Haworth, Born Capital Financial Services | |
| Ronald H. Filler (973) 495-8609 | [email protected] |
| William N. Goetzmann (203) 432-5950 | Mike Burke, High Ground Trading |
| [email protected] | |
| Douglas E. Harris (212) 365-6568 | |
| Bill Purpura, Great Lakes Trading | |
| Silas Keehn (847) 509-2757 | [email protected] |
| Jim Marshall (478) 973-3333 | Rich Strait, Richard Strait, LLC |
| [email protected] | |
| Michael H. Moskow (312) 821-6851 | |
| Rodney Dow, The Dow Corporation | |
| Ronald S. Oppenheimer (713) 230-1020 | [email protected] |
| Todd E. Petzel (212) 588-3244 | Steve Petillo, Coquest |
| [email protected] | |
|
MFA |
|
| President and Chief Executive Officer | Kevin F. O’Brien, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney |
| Richard H. Baker | [email protected] |
| [email protected] | |
| Ralph Preston, Heritage West Financial | |
| Executive Vice President | [email protected] |
| Marc Charon | |
| [email protected] | Kristi Aupperle, Advance Trading |
| [email protected] | |
| President Emeritus | |
| John G. Gaine | Ian Sweet, Sweet Futures |
| [email protected] | [email protected] |
| Executive Vice President | John DeMartino, FC Stone |
| D. Brooke Harlow | [email protected] |
| [email protected] | |
| Barbara Schmidt-Bailey, CME Group | |
| Executive Vice President | [email protected] |
| Roger Hollingsworth | |
| [email protected] | |
| Executive Vice President | |
| Stuart J. Kaswell | |
| [email protected] |



