olobay 

Maybe things will start to move quickly now on the US side? https://www.rjobrien.ca/documents/canada/peregrine_financial_group_canada.pdf

I vote that all us old guys move to Canada , get good health care and insured futures accounts....

ThatManFromTexas 

I vote that all us old guys move to Canada , get good health care and insured futures accounts....

Yeah, but that cold weather is HELL on my arthur-itis., but living there would have some benefits!

Commodity Customer Coalition | Fighting for the Quick Return of 100% of Customer Assets in the MF Global Bankruptcy

Most recent info is about PFG.

This research was ironically released on the same day the PFG fraud came to light. Since this thread also has some comments about the futures business and the integrity of the brokers in it, I thought it was interesting:

Quoting 

Wall Street Short on Ethics, Report Finds How ethical is Wall Street? It is a question that has been asked countless times since the financial crisis, especially when scandals like the rate-rigging case at Barclays and prominent insider trading trials expose questionable behavior in the financial industry. A new study offers an answer: Wall Street is not very ethical at all. According to the law firm Labaton Sucharow, which represents investors and whistle-blowers, 24 percent of Wall Street workers who participated in a study said they believed unethical or illegal behavior could help people in their industry be successful. In addition, 26 percent of respondents said they had observed or had firsthand knowledge of wrongdoing in the workplace. The study, which involved 500 financial workers in the United States and Britain, also found that 30 percent of respondents said their compensation structure created pressure to compromise their standards or violate the law. And 16 percent of respondents said they would commit insider trading if they believed they could get away with it.

Source & full article: Wall Street Short on Ethics, Report Finds - NYTimes.com

olobay 

Maybe things will start to move quickly now on the US side? https://www.rjobrien.ca/documents/canada/peregrine_financial_group_canada.pdf

I hope it for those concerned, but apparently the CFTC has shut the door:

Quoting 

The company filed for bankruptcy Tuesday under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, usually the course companies take toward liquidation. But the CFTC action seeks a restraining order to freeze assets, appoint a receiver and preserve records. It also seeks restitution, and civil monetary penalties.

Source & full article: UPDATE: Peregrine files for bankruptcy, feds seek to freeze assets

I don't know though how long such a 'freeze' normally last - perhaps other users know that?

Big Mike 

It seems the CFO may be in on it too, in this case. Mike

The customer who ran a precious metals business interviewed in "Capital Account" mentioned her too. (12:05 minutes in video) How could she not know..

PFGBEST | Leadership
https://www.pfgbest.com/about/press/brendaCuypers.asp

For Investors and Customers, PFG is MF Global all Over Again... - YouTube

Interesting.

Boloutika: Why #PFG is REALLY not #MFG

Hi. As mentioned in an earlier post, you have far greater exposure to theft if the broker is owned by one or a few people.

This is because there will likely be few or no compliance staff with the broker being in full control of the finances. At least with some of the larger brokers including Interactive Brokers, TD Ameritrade there needs to be collusion with multiple individuals across multiple departments to pull off grand scale theft. This is how Bernie Madoff got away with things for so long as it was only him and one or two others.

Because you have no insurance with futures and self regulation appears to be little more than a "friendship" club for the "old boys" of the industry, you are nearly solely reliant on the honesty of the owner/broker. But then you think, "I'm ok because my broker is such a nice guy". Then you remind yourself that so was Bernie Madoff by all accounts. Here is another fraud case from today with a supposed nice guy:

Banker sends confession, vanishes near Key West - Business - US business - msnbc.com

"Wendy Cross moved about $300,000 to Price's firm after a trusted financial adviser told her it would be a good investment. She met Price in person once. She described a very religious, soft-spoken man with a gentle demeanor and an air of kindness."

What would assist in putting some jittery minds at rest would be for the owners or representatives of the firms doing business with members of futures.io (formerly BMT) to post certified copies of their current segregated fund bank statement showing total client funds (details can be shaded out) and their total client fund ledger(confidential info shaded out).

This is not suggesting in anyway that futures.io (formerly BMT) member brokers are dishonest but this type of proof and assurance would go a long way to calming the nerves of clients.

Cheers
DJ

Yes and one thing people have to understand.... I've seen several posts about people wanting to move to a larger, safer institution. MF Global was huge, and incredibly unsafe.

The days of looking for size as protection are gone. Looking at numbers on a piece of paper or in an Excel column are worthless, since the numbers are fabricated easily.

The point is, you can't trust anyone or anything right now. And this will remain the case until their is legislation which basically provides insurance for customers (SIPC/FDIC type).

I think this will happen eventually. But the question is what happens between now and then.

Basically, if you are a professional trader you simply need to be smart. You can't just take all your money out and wait on the sidelines. But you can make sure your account balance is only what it really needs to be, and not more.

Mike

That's why my next futures broker will be in Canada where I am protected by IIROC and CIPF, even though margins and minimum account deposits are higher.