Vaporize (money that vanishes)

Money that is “vaporized” is money that has vanished, probably never return. The financial firm of MF Global declared bankruptcy on October 31, 2011; it was reported that client funds had been illegally raided and that the money was gone. On January 30, 2012, the Wall Street Journal, in the story “Money From MF Global Feared Gone,” reported:

“As the sprawling probe that includes regulators, criminal and congressional investigators, and court-appointed trustees grinds on, the findings so far suggest that 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, said a person close to the investigation.”
 
The word “vaporized” quickly gained headlines throughout the financial press and on many blogs. In July 2012, headlines declared that funds from PFG (Peregrine Financial Group) had also “vaporized.” Money literally isn’t being converted into vapor; “vaporize” is a euphemism for money that is lost (through bad transactions) or stolen.
 
   
Wikipedia: MF Global
MF Global Holdings Ltd. (OTC Pink: MFGLQ), formerly known as Man Financial, was a major global financial derivatives broker, or commodities brokerage firm. MF Global provided exchange-traded derivatives, such as futures and options as well as over-the-counter products such as contracts for difference (CFDs), foreign exchange and spread betting. MF Global Inc. was its broker-dealer subsidiary.
 
MF Global Inc. was a primary dealer in United States Treasury securities.
(...)
MF Global declared bankruptcy on October 31, 2011, and faced liquidation beginning in November 2011.
   
According to a trustee liquidating the company after its collapse, the losses incurred by customers of MF Global stood at $1.6 billion because of the debacle as of April 2012. The vast majority of these funds have not been returned to customers. Rolling Stone reported in April 2012 that the number stands at $1.6 billion, and that “nobody disputes the fact that MF Global officials dipped into customer accounts and took…customer money.”
 
Wall Street Journal
BUSINESS January 30, 2012.
Money From MF Global Feared Gone
By SCOTT PATTERSON and AARON LUCCHETTI
Nearly three months after MF Global Holdings Ltd. collapsed, officials hunting for an estimated $1.2 billion in missing customer money increasingly believe that much of it might never be recovered, according to people familiar with the investigation.
 
As the sprawling probe that includes regulators, criminal and congressional investigators, and court-appointed trustees grinds on, the findings so far suggest that 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, said a person close to the investigation.
 
Hot Air
MF Global money “vaporized”?
posted at 11:00 am on January 30, 2012 by Ed Morrissey
It sounds as if investigators looking for over a billion dollars in customer money in the wake of the collapse of MF Global have begun to despair of finding any.  Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that the probe thus far strongly suggests that the money got “vaporized” in a labyrinth of shady trading and raids on supposedly segregated accounts, thanks to, er, “certain employees”: ...
     
The Huffington Post
Missing MF Global Customer Funds May Have ‘Vaporized’: Report
First Posted: 01/30/2012 12:10 pm Updated: 01/30/2012 6:28 pm
Jon Corzine still doesn’t know where the money is, and it seems nobody else does either.
 
A “significant amount” of the missing $1.2 billion in MF Global customer funds may have been “vaporized,” the Wall Street Journal reports, citing “a person close to the investigation” into the missing funds. The money could have gotten lost during chaotic trading leading up to the brokerage firm’s bankruptcy filing.
 
Zero Hedge
MF Global Customer Funds Were Not “Vaporized” - Stanley Haar Takes WSJ to Task
Submitted by EB on 01/31/2012 15:42 -0400
by Stanley Haar
As a individual trader and CTA whose accounts are owed several million dollars by MFGI, I would like to express my shock and disappointment with [yesterday’s] front page article; I expected better from the WSJ. Your article gives the appearance of having been ghost written by Andrew Levander and/or the JP Morgan legal department. Among the key errors/omissions:
 
. Client money in segregated bank accounts was not “vaporized”; it was stolen via illegal transfers to support MF’s proprietary trading positions and to repay creditors such as JP Morgan.
 
Zero Hedge
PFG Is Now MFG(lobal) Part 2 As $220 Million In Segregated Client Money Has Just Vaporized
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/09/2012 19:17 -0400
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Translation: another $220 million segregated account pillage has just taken place, in the vein of none other than Jon Corzine and MF Global.
 
The money has now officially vaporized.