The last days of MF Global

This a deep look into what led up to MF global meltdown for anyone interested

Below is an interesting excerpt

"MF Global had barely survived a rogue-trading disaster just seven months after going public. Brent Dooley, a 40-year-old registered broker affiliated with MF Global's Memphis office, had spent the night of February 26, 2008, trading wheat futures at home on his laptop computer after finishing dinner with his family. Dooley, who placed his trades through the firm's OrderExpress system, had declared bankruptcy six years earlier and had a negative balance of $3,004 in his personal firm account. Yet for some reason, no one—and nothing—at MF Global stopped him.

By 6:10 a.m. the next day, according to government filings, Dooley had executed 16,428 short contracts for May delivery of wheat futures; he was betting that the price would fall. But as Dooley, in a thin overnight market, tried to buy futures to close out this massive position—three times the regulatory limit—the price soared instead. By the time the firm finally stepped in, terminated Dooley's account, and liquidated his positions, he had racked up a loss of $141,020,850—which MF Global would have to pay. (Federal prosecutors in Chicago charged Dooley with fraud. Dooley, who has pled not guilty, has yet to go to trial.)"

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