www.zerohedge.com/news/second-mf-global-...ingling-client-funds

Barret Capital Comingling Client Funds

And it comes to us courtesy of sleepy Canada whose "banks are all fine."


"When we learned of the MF Global client theft scandal, in the aftermath of its sudden bankruptcy filing, the one thing we predicted would happen (in addition to Jon Corzine never going to prison) was that many more brokers, banks and broadly financial intermediaries would be discovered having dipped in client accounts, or otherwise "commingled" capital in direct violation of the first rule of banking. Sure enough, a little over two months since, the second notable company to have been alleged to have abused client capital for own purposes has emerged. And it comes to us courtesy of sleep Canada whose "banks are all fine." As the Winnipeg Free Press reports, "One of Canada's investment regulators has accused Barret Capital Management, a firm specialized in futures and options on metals and other exchange-traded commodities, of using client money for its own purposes. The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada warned Monday that Barret clients are at risk due to the firm's "ongoing misappropriation of their money to fund losing trades and ongoing misinformation about the value and holdings in their accounts." IIROC has set a hearing for Tuesday morning to suspend Barret's membership in the organization and stop Barret from dealing with the public. In requesting the expedited hearing, the regulator alleged Barret made "significant misrepresentations to clients including through manipulating account values, misrepresenting account values and holdings by way of false account statements or otherwise providing false information to clients and by manipulating on and off book payments to clients." Where the story gets even more interesting is when one takes a look at just what it is that the company engages in, and how it fits into the scenario analysis conducted in the MF Global aftermath."

Follow link to read complete article.

Thanks for the post Goldeneconomizer.

I find it necessary to address the line that "Canadian banks are fine". Obviously what this remark MEANS to any particular individual depends tremendously on their own perspective AND their definition of the word "fine".

If someone wanted to say to me that Canadian banks are "fine" in terms of their solvency (in comparison to the reckless gambling addicts masquerading as "banks" in the U.S. and Europe) then YES, I would agree that Canadian banks are "fine".

However if someone wanted to refer to Canadian banks as being "fine" in the context of being GOOD CITIZENS, then they would certainly get an argument from me. These are BANKERS. Canadian bankers are just as evil as any other. The DIFFERENCE is that OUR bankers still have a regulatory straitjacket wrapped around them - unlike the U.S./Europe psychopaths who are TOTALLY unrestrained.

Indeed, the story you posted illustrates this in VERY vivid terms. In the U.S. they didn't start "investigating" MF Global until AFTER $1 BILLION in customer funds had been plundered by criminal bankers. In Canada, this "MF Global" clone is being investigated because it MIGHT (will) BECOME another MF Global.

In other words, in Canada the "regulators" still actually REGULATE...