WASHINGTON--The trustee in charge of returning money to
customers from the bankrupt MF Global Holdings Ltd. said customers
should get around 90% of their money back, striking a more cautious
note than another bankruptcy trustee who expressed confidence that
customers will get all their money back.
"If we're successful in pending litigations, I think we're
comfortable saying that additional distributions should certainly
be in the 90% range," trustee James Giddens said at a Senate
Agriculture Committee hearing.
Mr. Giddens said the amount of money returned to customers would
in part be determined by whether he wins a U.K. court case over
$700 million, which he said is by no means assured.
Trustee Louis J. Freeh, who is working to recover money for
creditors, said in testimony prepared for the same hearing that
customers "eventually will be made whole" and that there will be
more money available for MF Global's creditors. Mr. Freeh, former
director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, didn't attend the
hearing because of a scheduling conflict.
Mr. Giddens said he appreciated Mr. Freeh's confidence, but that
it will be a "time-consuming, difficult, uphill battle to be
successful in marshalling substantial additional assets needed to
pay commodities customers 100%."
Mr. Giddens said that customers with trades on U.S. exchanges
have received about 80% of their money and customers with foreign
trades have received about 5%.
Write to Jamila Trindle at jamila.trindle@dowjones.com
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