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MF Global Hearing Live
Today's primetime popcorn event is about to begin: as reported earlier, the House Financial Services Committee will hold an oversight and investigations hearing on the collapse of MF Global, beginning at 3 pm. The hearing will focus on the decisions during the company's final days that led to the disappearance of up to $1.6 billion in customer funds. The party line is that "The investigation aims to "not only to find out where the money went but to identify what went wrong in order to prevent this from happening again," Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) said." What instead will happen is that a bunch of politicians will huff and puff, and nothing will happen once again, because to take down Corzine, would mean to start eating away at the entire rotten core of today's captured political system, which has and always will be run out of Wall Street. It will also be amusing to listen to Edith O’Brien plead the Fif.
Full webcast after the jump, where the empty seats will be populated by empty suits.
The witness list and prepared remarks can be found below.
WITNESS LIST
Panel I
- Ms. Laurie Ferber, General Counsel, MF Global Holdings Ltd.
- Mr. Henri Steenkamp, Chief Financial Officer, MF Global Holdings Ltd.
- Ms. Christine Serwinski, Chief Financial Officer for North America, MF Global Inc.
- Ms. Edith O’Brien, Assistant Treasurer, MF Global Inc. (no written statement submitted)
Panel II
- Ms. Diane M. Genova, Deputy General Counsel, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Mr. Daniel J. Roth, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Futures Association
- Ms. Susan M. Cosper, Technical Director, Chairman, Emerging Issues Task Force, Financial Accounting Standards Board
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Let the games begin!
Let the mummer's farce begin!
Fixed it for ya.
I love that term. That's what it is.
OK, first batch of popcorn is gone. What's happening?
Time to plead the fifth.
Soon it will be time to plead for that fifth batch of popcorn.
(Apparently there is a House vote underway and the hearing will begin soon.)
THAT'S a SHAME!!!!
Dragging these good people through the mud .... public hearing and all that ... and for what ???
They are the best at what they do, trying to serve the customers, real professionals ... mistakes do happen ... so what do you do? kill these people through the power of media and politicians? SHAME
We are Americans we can take it!
"On advice of counsel, i respectfully decline to answer"
AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAAAHA fucking criminals
Fifth plead: 2.
Confirmed she would answer all questions the same way.
"Bonnie and Clyde we chumps compared to you three. They had to take gas money, you just get people to wire it to you and you have no idea what happened."
"What chumps those old bandits were compared to you three."
Lovin it!
This is totally awesome...
Need to redo LMFAO's hit to
"We're weasels and we know it"
weasel, weasel, weasel, weasel, weasel
barliman
The blond head (Lewinsky?) is sounding confused.
I am enjoying the fact that they just ignore her if she doesn't answer promptly.
"...based on my Constitutional rights."
Committee member: "What are those?"
These fuck sticks can't give a 1 word answer to a question like "what color is the sky?"
What an absolute fucking disgrace this is.
Why are they not arresting these criminals?
Arius, indeed, it is Vugar to watch these upstanding financial geniuses, memeber of the Upper Class, dragged thru the mud....it's sad day when the Hoi Polio, the scrubby masses, the filthy customers....the far left wing Commie media can tarnish the sparkling reputations of these Wall Street Uber Giants.
Sad indeed....
Nothing like a prompt start.
I think a few of them are still drinking a fifth before listening to people plead the fifth.
No, it's time to get some more popcorn!!!
-John
Learn About Wild Edible Plants:
http://www.heartrootnatureconnection.com
A picture worth 1.6 billion...
http://annoyanidiot.blogspot.com/
"Video temporarily unavailable.
Please try again later."
I am not getting a video feed....
...oh nevermind.... it works in IE...
Ironic that Jamie 'fuck-you-pay-me' Dimon is tooling the public on CNBC right now. Would love the guy to ask Dimon...... so, Jamie, tell us what REALLY happened with this whole MF Global thing.
No balls on CNBC
it's military industrial complex day on CNBC today
What really happened is that JP Morgan was completely in on the swindle. The "segregated" customer accounts that were stolen were held with JP Morgan, as was the investment account that was $175 million overdrafted. JP Morgan authorized the customer funds transfer to MF Global's main accounts, which MF Global promptly used to cover the hole they were in in an account also held by JP Morgan. JP Morgan was smart enough to cover their ass (they knew MF was in "distress") by having their legal counsel "verify" that the customer funds were not used to cover investment losses.
You can read it all here: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/jpmorgan-lawyer-says-mf-global-ga...
Of course Dimon is trying to cover his ass now. Of course no one knew anything ... It all just magically dissapeared. It was all just a mistake, honest.
The lawyer dealing with the letters was Dennis Klejna, a deputy counsel who was no stranger to crisis at futures firms. An industry veteran, Mr. Klejna was a former general counsel at Refco, the defunct brokerage that was taken over by MF Global after it collapsed in scandal. Mr. Klejna, who also served as the enforcement chief at the Commodity Future Trading Commission, agreed to forfeit $1.25 million to be distributed to victims of the Refco fraud. He was never charged with wrongdoing.
If you're one of the pro-big government dolts who still thinks more regulation can fix Wall Street, please read and re-read that excerpt. One of the chief market regulators in this nation was involved in not one but two major brokerage collapses, one of which resulted in securities fraud convictions (albeit not for the former regulator) and the other resulted in over a billion dollars just "dissapearing."
In case you need a reminder, Refco is the brokerage that was hiding $430 million in bad debt and was found to be holding over $500 million in FAKE bonds in offshore accounts. Yet "no one" knew this -- not the former regulators on their legal counsel team, nor the banks that handled Refco's IPO (BofA, Goldman and Credit Suisse) which performed "due diligence."
Regulatory capture is nothing new. A congress that had the fucking balls to do something about it would be.
Ezactly. Congress is owned. We all know that. What are they going to do? Absofukinglutely nothing.
"Congressional capture is nothing new; a congresss that wasn't captured, would be" There, fixed it for you.
Chris from Morningside,
You may have hit the nail on the head. If the Customer Money was invested overnight with JPM, if JPM then returned the Money to MF Globals Business Account instead of the Segregated Account then MF Global may have though that they had enough Money in their Business Account to pay the Margin Call. Not knowing that the Customer Money was not put back into the segregated account but instead the Business Account.
The Committee has kindly saved the People's time once O'Brien pleaded the Fifth twice and also said that she intends to plead the Fifth even if you ask her what color are her shoes ... so now O'Brien as been excused.
There is no more apt description for this, than "Mummer's Farce."
tru dat. goobermint sans feathers at its shameless, prancing best
Speaking of mummers, does 'Capuano' mean bat-shit in Italian?
Indeed. Which games though?
-- Hypothecate senior MF Global employees (Guantanamo sounds good)?
-- Hypothecate the Congressmen?
Safer to just nuke the site from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.
Boy I sure would like to give him a hint as to how to keep this from happening again; You handcuff people and put them in the back of the un-marked sedan for the ride to the Federal Holding Facility; then convict them and jail them. That's how you keep it from "happening"; it didn't "happen". It was the coldly calculated risk taken by people who had reason to believe they were going to get away with it. It's not nuclear Physics, people.
Exactly!
Poof!
Biggest component of post hearing wordcloud: 'Vaporized'
I'm taking the Fifth, bitchez!
I think its more properly pronounced, "Fif". Or maybe "Fizzif"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxE_oQBwrdU
One fifth scotch.
One fifth tequila
One fifth vodka ... better make that a gallon.
A fifth of Crown for me thanks.
I am going to open a fifth.
"where the empty seats will be populated by empty suits"
I love the Hedge. I hope the Tylers never run out of material.
+ 1
Tylers will ALWAYS have material to run. No way MF Global is over. No way anything else is over either.
"gggood" times
Gonna have to be good to top yesterday's "Trayvon" hearing.
Negro children in Congress. If I wasn't livin' it I wouldn't believe it.
You wearing your hoodie today?
how did you know?
You look like the hoodie type...you know with the glasses and all.
...it's cool.
Did your mommy and daddy say mean things about brown people when you were growing your brain?
Piran: I was part of a salt & pepper team in the '70s. Guy was my best friend. I've no beef with individuals. That being said, black culture as a whole is inferior; lacking in self-responsibility and a accountability. I'm tired to death of white apologists who condone amoral behavior.
What the hell is "black culture"? You could at least have added "in the US" or even just "immigrated to western nations in the usual circumstances".
And before you get the idea of replying with the usual "oh, so if a black one does it, it's okay"? NO, rather, i just don't give a fuck about such criteria at all.
To give you an idea where i'm comming from: I'm a freelancer and refuse to do any business with turks in my country. Does that mean that i think that anyone born in turkey, or his/her parents originating from turkey, in terms of business is despisable.... just because him/her was born in some geographical area, or had parents from there?
No, in fact, i have turkish friends, who despise a certain part of their... culture... themselves. What i am seeing is simply a certain subset of a popular culture immigrating to my country and starting businesses... and that this demographic considers "haggling" no matter the circumstances, as well as requesting an "unusual degree of flexibility" from the provider... part of the "fun" of doing business. And my business model is not compatible with that demographic.
If i were living in the USA, and had an incompatible business model with "popular black culture" over there, i may make a similiar decision for entirely different reasons. Still wouldn't make me talk about a term as generic as "black culture" (how many pop cultures are there on the planet, with blacks? And are they all the same?).
To drive the point home: I'm german... and there are certain demographics of germans in other countries, on whom i would rather piss than even bother communicating.
Rynak: good luck in therapy.
At least, my local experience with a cultural subset, are "curable"... beliefs on the other hand, aren't "curable".... neither by a therapist, nor logic, nor alternate experience.... they just are, like an axiom.
I must say, Rynak's medication appears to have kicked in a bit this week. It is almost possible to discern a train of thought here.......
Damn! I cannot join in on this drinking game, as I do not have a full 1.75L on hand...
Then go buy some! The you can join the fun!
Here's my favorite:
"Death After Midnight"
-- 1 part cold water
-- 1 part good absinthe
-- 3 parts raspberry vodka
All straight out of the freezer! Keep a wingman glass of water handy in case your throat starts burning...
Please define "good" absinthe.
I find that some of the stuff I love other's don't
Yes, there's a lot of subjectivity in liking versions of absinthe. My favorite is the Pernod (be careful to get the absinthe, not just the anisette). The Grande Absente is good too.
I do NOT like the Swiss Kubler.
Yuck! I hate Pernod :)
Don't like lucid either.
I am drinking st georges now, it's really great if you have not tried it yet, I like Grand and Obsello, Kubler is ok, sometimes I like Le Fay for the anise explosion on the palate. La Fey is good to cook with also.
You see? It's all subjective!
"There's no accounting for taste."
-- Captain James T. Kirk
They are still not in the room, you have time to run to the store and back.
i'll go now
i'm in an elevated mood
didya check the "edith0'Brien" link in tyler's intro, fuu? L0L!!!
Is she deaf or hearing impaired? Her voice was strange.
it may be hormonal
Mrs. Laurie Ferber testifies that she forwarded a copy of the JPM letter specifying only two related transactions with the substance on the communication being that Edith sign it. Mrs. Laurie Ferber also testifies that her understanding was that Edith was comfortable signing off on JPM's letter if it was specific to two related transactions.
Wonder what the related transactions were related to. Unless in this case it is the $175M transfer.
"They were robbed and nobody knew anything about it. One point six billion dollars." - Stephen Lynch
paste from tyler: >>It will also be amusing to listen to Edith O’Brien plead>> the Fif.
"
MF Global's Edith O'Brien Talks Deal with Justice
By Aaron Lucchetti, Michael Rothfeld and Mike Spector
@FINS
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230381650457730750261199805...
It's official then. O'Brien is going to taste the pavement.
The definition of "Corzined" just keeps expanding.
Ref: Mad Max show (maxkeiser@rt) #
Episode 265In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host Stacy Herbert discuss the great “unbanked” masses dumping gold believing in a “recovering economy” and an end to money printing, while banks and insiders buy gold and mortgage-backed securities in preparation for more quantitative easing by the Fed. In the second half of the show Max talks to Mark Melin of Uncorrelated Investments about MF Global, JP...
Steenkamp takes out his statement, reaches in his suit pocket for his glasses, freezes.
"Uh, sorry."
"What's that, Mister Steenkamp?"
"I--ladies and gentlemen, I haven't worn this suit in several months. I--I hate to say it, but...." He brings out $1.5 billion in cash. "I guess I must've just left it here by mistake."
Chairman Frank laughs. "No problem. Happens to me all the time--usually I love it when I find out I accidentally left money in my clothes. But it isn't usually quite that much!"
"Except that one time with Freddie."
"Yes, of course." He bangs the gavel. "I guess we're adjourned. Sorry for all the fuss."
What time does the Honorable Jon speak?
He's hanging out with Cheney and Zimmerman in a secure location.
Cheney just had a heart transplant.Just be glad you were not a match!
He did? I was not aware of that....sarc.....does this mean he might develope the compassion not to bomb brown people for oil?
I think this new heart will reject him unless it came from someone cold blooded just like him,
IRS agent - never used (available for brain transplant, too)
Conspiracy! Turns out he did not need one, just took out the old one and he is fine. Needed a cover story for the masses.
I think you mean an implant. In order to have a transplant, there has to be one available to trade out.
But at least now we have medical proof.
Kind of makes you wonder what poor Chinese SOB just gave his heart to Darth Vader for $2000 for his family.
Dylan's hanging out with Cheney? The Bard with The Master of War.
bout time Edith. hope you are lawyered up with a good republican lawyer. a dem lawyer might not let you know about conflicts of interest.
Her lawyer is the same guy who represented Bernie Ebbers
its a small world isn't it? LOL
"Overdraft" = 2 shots
"Segregated funds" = 2 shots
"Fifth" = 1 shot (cuz we will probably hear that a lot and some of us still have to drive home)
"Vaporized" = 3 shots
"JP Morgan" = 2 shots
"ethics" = 1 shot (cuz there is no value to this any longer)
I'm in. JP Morgan 2 shots is gonna be a killer..
Ding! Ding! Ding! we just got TWO invocations of the Fifth Amendment Rights within 60 seconds ... bonus of 5 SHOTS.
Time to crank up some Thorogood.
oooh! I just heard "segregated funds" three times! ... gonna need to make a quick run to the store at this rate ....
Got two "JP Morgan"s and more on the way ....
oh good grief ... they have embarked on a defintion of "segregated funds" ... I'm gonna pass out at this rate.
Corzine and Dimon.
Where is the missing money, where are the indictments?
Time to stop paying taxes and take to the streets.
Oh yes. And evidence is emerging that Obama's social security number is bogus, selective service records are faked, birth certificate is forgery and college records says he is a foreigner. Release the secret college records.
I don't care about the political parties, but we now have a sitting President whose every signing order and legislative matter is null.
Try putting that genie back in the bottle.
Don't forget. Its all being done on purpose. They want the country under civil war. Divide and conquer.
+ $55,000, the highest rating I give.
Where is the money? Where are the indictments?
It's all JPM this time (RE: MadMax episode #265) (OOoops they all look alike to me)
Perhaps Stewie should find the missing money
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZomwVcGt0LE&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGgDKsp_OMU
Listen. Nobody goes after someone who can vaporize $1,600.000.000 like it was nuth'n.
"They" want Civil War? Ref to Warren Oates character, Wild Bunch, just before closing scene gun battle...checks pistola, picks up shotgun, looks at Ben Johnson, Bill Holden: "Let's Go."
Wonder if the MF folks are going to show up wearing hoodies.....
Good thing the desks are brown, the BS about to be spewn will blend right in.
MF hearings summarized in one quote:
It seems that the initial reports that one of our submarines was missing were not completely accurate.
(Ambassador Lysenko, The Hunt For Red October)
Put those fuckers in an electric chair...they should be "vaporized"
Wow, that was fast. What happened. Was is supposed to be over this fast?
This presentation is brought to you courtesy of MF Global Incorporated.
The views expressed in this presentation are the sole responsibility of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the views of MF Global Inc.
JPM "Oral assurances"...please meet "I don't recall" John Corzine. THAT IS WHY THIS SHIT IS DONE IN WRITING.
jamie is probably good at oral assurances.
2 EST ?! anyone know why it hasn't started??? Or is it over already?
guess they're just relaxing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKOqGg0Pz_Y&feature=player_embedded#!
LOL, nothing will happen, the clowns run the circus.
THE WORST thing that will happen is they will get slapped with some penalty to pay for 2 cents on the dollar for every dollar they stole . . . just like they did with the mortgage fraud . . .
Question is, will they finally throw somebody under the bus today? Ferber seems to be in waaaay too deep (helping setup the scam), so as long as she acts appropriately intelligent, yet uninformed she'll be okay. Maybe O'Brien?
Empty suits are now taking the stage.
Cut the crap. I want to see a Perp walk!
The closest thing you'll see to that are the committee members walking to their seats.
Sad and true mate. Sad but true.
LOL. And that's our "provide the caption" win for the day.
Popcorn ready? Fasten your seatbelts, we're going to take off to Lalaland!
Wouldn't it be nice if the empty suits had balls like Janet Tavakoli?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTWKT3pZgT8
How many Chase commercials do you see on CNBC? They would never go off the talking points supplied by JPM.
"This is a hearing, not a trial" -> So go for it!
Mr. Capuano is a fucking pussy
OK, lets find out what happened about the leaked memo. WFT!?! He's out of subject AND pussy I surely agree.
What a fucker more concerned about protecting Corzine than he is about the truth getting out.
It's about protecting a LOT more than just Corzine. If they can't save him, they'll undermine their own ability to survive and perpetrate the scam another day.
ship of fools
Not looking forward to the closing bell. Someone gives Maria a cookie everytime she says "off the lows"...
Well, the morgue will cooperate: it will take care of the farmer's dead bodies. Bachus looks like in total damage control.
The gentlement talking presently looks much more altruistic. What's his name?
"The breathtaking lack of care of the customers..." +1
When five cents are not accounted for in my checking account from six months ago the bank can track every penny.....
Don't give me this sh*t they don't know what, where, how, when crap.
Do you know where your money is?
+ 1 million
It is beyond comprehension to me that 'they' don't know where the money is
+ another million to you.
Bullshit they can't find the money. The new Utah data center will be able to find that in, uhh, whatever an order of magnitude less than a nanosecond is...
I'll bet IBM's "Watson" can find it too.
Maybe they should put the IRS on it to find the Money. They can find a penny left in your sofa you did not claim.
should we all vomit in unison as they "thank each other" for the great efforts they've made to investigate this?
and thank the people for appearing.
one, two, three....
Just like your side......shut the fuck up! There should be only one side on this issue...the truth you fucker.
Find your quiet place. I'm in mine; it's swell.
oohhmmmmm......oohhmmmmm
Step forward into your cave, you're going deeper into your cave. And you're going
to find - your power animal.
What wait...the GOP is withholding 100's of thousands of documents from the DEM?
I'm shocked I tellya...
Ferber "opening statement." Translation: words typed on a page by New York defense lawyers will now be mouthed into a microphone.
Banker justice = blowjobs all round.
Ps...fuck you Corzine.
Defense lawyerspeak no. 1: Ferber calls theft of client funds "reconciliation errors."
Lewlz.
Steenkamp is now up. He's throwing the auditors and outside regulators under the bus, says the segregated accounts weren't his responsibility. He's a "global" CFO and didn't know what was going on with the U.S. client account funds. Steenkamp sounds like a real BS artist. How the fuck does MF Global's CFO not know about a billion plus in outflows?
AND, same answer from Serwinski. Says MF Global "Treasury" department is responsible for the customer outflows, and no one involved with the customer money fraud "reports" to Serwinski. Oh, how convenient: Serwinski says she was "out" that "week" when MF Global imploded. Her "absence," she calls it. A "week off."
Rats, sinking ship.
No, it's because he's CFO of MFGI, not MFG! Yeah, we know how works the Ltd shit
The man can't pronounce "subsidiary"
Doesn't take too long listening to this Steenkamp guy to know he's in on the crime. The presentation is not that of someone upset at the end of the company. This speech is designed to hide what he really knows.
And he's only been in the position for just under a year.
This blonde chick took the money on vacation with her.....
Maybe that is why they asked her if the vacation was in the US. To make sure she was not taking a huge check to a Foreign Account.
Hi, Im General Counsel, "I didn't do it"
Hi, Im the CFO. "I was busy doing something else. I didn't do it"
Hi, I'm the other CFO. "The guys that transfered the money don't fall in my juristiction so I didn't do it"
Good f*ckin grief...somebody just put Corzine's head on a pike and let's move forward!