MF Global Holdings, Ltd. (fka MFGLQ)

[mrfence]

When will we see the terms??? LOL! Have not seen this much MF Global coverage in quite some time...

MF Global, PwC Settle $2B Malpractice Claim
By William Gorta
Law360, New York (March 23, 2017, 9:32 AM EDT) -- MF Global and PricewaterhouseCoopers have settled a $2 billion professional malpractice case in New York federal court to the "mutual satisfaction of the parties," the litigants said Thursday.

After weeks of document- and regulation-heavy trial testimony, MF Global and PricewaterhouseCoopers have settled their $2 billion professional malpractice case in the district court for the Southern District of New York. (Getty) Terms of the deal, which came after several weeks of trial testimony, were not disclosed.

MF Global alleged that PwC's auditing failures on its financial statements allowed...
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PwC Settles With MF Global, Leaving Question Of Auditor Liability For Another Case

Corzine: Out of court, perhaps forever? (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg)

PriceWaterhouseCoopers settled a potential $3 billion lawsuit by the administrator of bankrupt MF Global mid-trial, ending a case that could have expanded the scope of auditor liability when companies collapse.

The global accounting firm blamed management mistakes by former Chairman Jon Corzine, who assembled a multibillion-dollar portfolio of European sovereign bonds at MF Global just as the U.S. debt rating was downgraded and the market for peripheral Euro bonds was entering a severe round of convulsions. The administrator for MF Global's estate argued accounting errors, including allowing MF Global to keep the bonds off its balance sheet, precipitated the company's collapse.

By settling before the jury had a chance to decide, PwC left open important questions about the extent to which an auditor can be held liable for its advice on complex accounting questions, which often resist a simple yes-or-no answer.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2017/03/23/pwc-settles-with-mf-global-leaving-question-of-auditor-liability-for-another-case/#5603eb381900

Jon Corzine's MF Global, PwC in Settlement

Jon Corzine's MF Global has reached a settlement with its former accounting firm, PwC.


| March 23, 2017, at 1:35 p.m.

NEW YORK (AP) — The trial between bankrupt brokerage MF Global, run by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, and its former accounting firm, PwC, came to an unceremonious end on Thursday, with both parties saying they have reached a settlement.


Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. MF Global had been suing PwC for as much as $3 billion.


"The case was settled to the mutual satisfaction of the parties," said PwC spokesman Andrew Wilson.


MF Global sued PwC, also known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, alleging that negligence by the firm's accountants led to confusion about the current financial health of MF Global at a time of global market turmoil. That confusion eventually led MF Global to file for bankruptcy in late 2011.


PwC alleged that MF Global's business decisions, including its purchase of European government bonds, were the reason why MF Global failed — not because PwC did not account for those assets as MF Global says they should have.



The trial, in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, was supposed to last five weeks. The settlement came before PwC's lawyers were even able to call witnesses to its defense.


At the center of the trial were $6.3 billion in assets tied to European government bonds that MF Global purchased from Italy, Spain, Belgium, Ireland and Portugal. Another issue is how PwC accounted for $72 million in what's known as tax-deferred assets that further caused uncertainty about MF Global's financial health.

Those two issues caused MF Global to be downgraded by the credit rating agencies like Moody's and counterparties to eventually cut off business from the firm.

Corzine testified earlier this month, saying that the European bonds that MF Global invested in were relatively low-risk and the firm expected to get its money back. All of the bonds were from countries with investment-grade ratings, and at the time, the European Central Bank created a $500 billion facility to help eurozone countries meet their obligations.

"We believed the bonds would be paid in their own right," Corzine said. The thesis later proved to be correct, as all the bonds that MF Global purchased were paid back in full — but some months after MF Global filed for bankruptcy.

The trial caught the public's attention not only because it involved Corzine, but also because the trial started shortly after the Oscars, where a mistake by PwC's accountants led to "La La Land" being announced as Best Picture, when it was really "Moonlight."

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-jersey/articles/2017-03-23/jon-corzines-mf-global-pwc-in-settlement

PwC settles with MF Global over Corzine brokerage's collapse



FILE PHOTO - Former MF Global Chief Jon Corzine listens as he testifies before a House Financial Services Committee Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on the collapse of MF Global, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, U.S. on December 15, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has settled a $3 billion negligence lawsuit over the October 2011 collapse of MF Global Holdings Ltd, the futures and commodities brokerage once run by former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine.

Terms were not disclosed, but the malpractice case was "settled to the mutual satisfaction of the parties," representatives for PwC and MF Global's bankruptcy administrator said in separate statements on Thursday.

The accord ends the last major piece of litigation that the administrator, hedge fund founder Nader Tavakoli, has been pursuing on behalf of MF Global creditors.

It also ends a trial that began on March 7 in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where several witnesses including Corzine had already testified.

PwC has denied wrongdoing. It blamed Corzine's business strategy and the market's reaction to it for MF Global's demise.

In April 2015, PwC reached a separate $65 million settlement with MF Global investors, but denied wrongdoing there too.

Lawyers for both sides on Thursday declined to comment or were not immediately available for comment.

MF Global filed for Chapter 11 protection on Oct. 31, 2011 as news about Corzine's $6.3 billion wager on European sovereign debt, a surprise tax writedown, and credit rating downgrades fueled worries about its survival.

Investors became upset when MF Global moved the European debt onto its balance sheet on Oct. 25, 2011, after previously discussing it more generally in regulatory filings.

The administrator faulted PwC over the accounting for "repurchase-to-maturity" transactions through which Corzine bet on the European debt, and for changing its advice on deferred tax assets, causing the writedown.

Corzine, also a former New Jersey senator and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) co-chairman, testified that he had trusted PwC because of its strong reputation. He also called the European debt a low-risk investment that ultimately paid in full.

In January, Corzine agreed to pay $5 million and accept a lifetime U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission ban to settle claims by that agency.

Corzine, 70, now runs an office focused on charitable giving and his family's investments, and has taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University.


(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Marguerita Choy)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mf-global-hldg-pricewaterhouse-idUSKBN16U1QZ