MF Global’s Missing $1.2 Billion ‘Vaporized’

The Wall Street Journal reports that the $1.2 billion that remains unaccounted for following the bankruptcy file of MF Global may be lost forever. As one source told the WSJ, “a ‘significant amount’ of the money could have ‘vaporized’ as a result of chaotic trading at MF Global during the week before the company’s Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing.”

That’s not strictly true, of course. Someone got paid — the money is somewhere. It’s just not in the customer accounts where it belongs.

If the customer funds were used to meet demands for more collateral or to unfreeze assets at other banks, those funds — or at least the bread crumbs they left behind — should be traceable and the counterparties should be forced to pay it back, and they should be treated as accessories to robbery until they do.