ML-Implode News - Don't Blink, or You'll Miss Another Shameful Scandal

Already this week, even as investors continue to wrap their heads around the monumental LIBOR rate-rigging debacle, the dramatic implosion of futures brokerage PFGBest amid a reported shortfall in customer-segregated accounts has shattered hopeful notions that the MF Global disaster would remain an isolated event... Cruelly, some of the same futures traders that were victims of the MF Global collapse have now been denied access to their funds for the second time in less than a year
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Also among those affected by PFG's sudden collapse are the separate victims of a $194 million Ponzi scheme operated by one Trevor Cook. PFGBest served as a broker for some of Cook's own nefarious dealings, and a lawsuit filed by the court-appointed receiver in that case sought to recover $48 million from PFG, alleging that PFG permitted Cook to maintain accounts "in the face of overwhelming red flags of fraud or insolvency." With PFG in bankruptcy, any hope for those folks to see a return of their capital grows increasingly dim.
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Ultimately, every single investor is a victim of this latest example of the rampant misconduct and outright fraud that seems to have infected our entire financial system like a plague. The list has grown far too long, and it may have reached a critical mass to begin scaring investors straight out of the markets. The unsettling macroeconomic outlook and the structural shortcomings like those exposed by the 2010 flash crash are sufficient obstacles for retail investors to contend with. With the addition of Madoff, LIBOR-gate, the muni-bond-rigging cartel, MF Global, Lehman, gold-price suppression, and the long list of hugely disappointing scandals in recent years, it's a wonder any of us are still sticking around.

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Don't Blink, or You'll Miss Another Shameful Scandal