Trust me, YOU are a complete and total MORON if you believe this fairy tale was a one man operation. Unlike you, I actually do have a bit of small business experience in finance and accounting operations (>100 employees), and know for a fact accountants and CFO's have direct and daily access to their bankers, deposit accounts, lines of credit and bank statements, which they require on a daily/weekly basis to DO THEIR JOB. I never said I had little to no experience. I said YOU DO. I have some, and apparently much more than the losers on this thread who'd believe the tooth fairy stole their money if the CFTC said so. Think it about, you dumbass. There's at least 2 CPA's over at PFG who run the numbers on a weekly basis, bare minimum. Never mind the regulators, or external auditors. That's at least 3 PEOPLE who knew what was up, on the inside. Next enter the auditors and regulators who are supposed to verify by checking source documents. That's what an audit is, Corky. Or what? You suppose an auditor *checks the math* on the balance sheet a firm submits? Are you fucking kidding me??! Then there's the good ol' NFA. A PO BOX?? Were you born fucking yesterday? You know, after reading the responses on this thread, I can't believe the level of naivety shown by so-called "traders" who are supposed to exhibit a level of cunning and sophistication light years ahead of the sheep on the street. No wonder this country is going to hell in a handbasket.
You make a good point about internal controls and the likelihood that at least the PFG CFO was aware, but would US Bank really know what PFG was filing with the CFTC as its balances? Was the NFA staffed sufficiently to check up on every custodial bank address submitted to it? Maybe US Bank did check those filings and maybe the NFA did have enough staff to follow up on every piece of information each member submitted, but no one here knows for sure. We will all know in time, though. Obviously, for a scam running into the hundreds of millions of dollars, there will be more than enough willing participants.
The risk for the industry related to Peregrine is losing the trust of a trader like Jacob Ursel, an 18-year-old investor in Calgary, Canada, who said he has $7,200 frozen in his Peregrine account. LOL ok i feel for nthis guy but only $7200??? 18 years old??? HELLOO??? While Ursel's frozen funds in Peregrine is ânot hurtingâ him financially and he worries about farmers who have lost much more, not being able to get the cash for himself and his other investors has been difficult. After getting others excited to try futures trading, âitâs been tough telling them what happened,â he said. HELOOO??? an 18-year old recommending futures trading to others????? what has the world come to????
At least the ranchers and farmers at PFG will benefit from CME's fund: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/updat...available-to-peregrine-clients-20120711-01384
SIPC won't cover losses: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...cial-futures-accounts-by-sipc-chief-says.html
Blah blah blah... So your assertion that there are was one or more people at both NFA and US Bank that were involved in the fraud is solely based on your belief that they could not be that incompetent? Great work man. Please continue with your tirade and no evidence. PS: No one (but you) have suggested that there was only one person at PFG involved, I can understand why you want to throw up that strawman and not defend your assertions about NFA and US Bank being complicit in the fraud.
It's not naivete, it's a little thing called "getting all the evidence" before making a judgment. Is Peter Brandt naive for saying "there's a lot we don't know"? http://www.bloomberg.com/video/cftc...-mess-brandt-says-~zj6Fa~vQTiWdVcz_JQpJg.html
But what to do? You can never really know who is safe or not. Statistics dosent even matter anymore. I remembered reading a thread a few years back about safety of futures brokers, and quite a few people were saying they wouldnt put more than 20k in brokers like Velocity and Mirus but they would be happy having 250k or more with MF global because of their huge excess capital etc,etc, well we all know what happened.
You're an idiot with no experience in accounting or managerial finance. Ask your CPA, CGA, or neighbor who's a CFO. They'll tell you the same shit, Corky.
People are losing site of the fact that Nfa did uncover this. who ever prevented a fraud before it started? Anyone who invested in a cta or cpo that used these guys should be equally upset with them for not doing proper due diligence. Regulators are not the be all end all. I have yet to see a thread giving a regulator credit for actually imposing a fine or preventing malicious behavior though it happens on a daily basis.