Your Complete Guide To Every Important Event In The MF Global Meltdown

Facebook Email icon An envelope. It indicates the ability to send an email.

Email Twitter icon A stylized bird with an open mouth, tweeting.

Twitter LinkedIn icon

LinkedIn Link icon An image of a chain link. It symobilizes a website link url.

Copy Link lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in .

It's been a whole four weeks since MF Global declared bankruptcy on October 31, and it seems that only the tip of a large iceberg of issues has unveiled itself.

With increasingly bewildering news surrounding the whereabouts of the missing client money, occasionally drab details from bankruptcy court and paparazzi shots of Jon Corzine surfacing on the news everyday, it seems that problems ensnaring the brokerage firm are interminable.

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in .

To make it easier for readers, we've compiled all the important events you need to know to better understand the situation, from the initial Moody's downgrade and European debt holdings that set off the alarm on MF Global to the House subcommittee hearing that's just been announced.

There was trouble brewing over the summer, when regulators told MF to build up more capital.

As far back as June this year, regulators began asking MF Global to increase its capital due to the company's high exposure to European sovereign debt. MF Global raises more capital by September, but it obviously wasn't enough.

Then, a Moody's downgrade and a quarterly earnings release provided a double-whammy to the company stock.

On Oct. 24, Moody's downgrades MF Global's credit rating to one-grade above junk status, setting off a slew of investor fears. Share prices for the firm start plunging, falling up to 40% per day.

The company decides to release earnings early on Oct. 25—revealing a $186 million net loss and $6.3 billion of European debt on their books. The European holdings only adds fuel to the fire of shareholder fears, and share prices for the firm continued nosediving, at one point trading below $1. A Fitch downgrade and another Moody's downgrade, both to junk, follows later that week.

By Oct. 28, everyone assumed MF Global would be bought out by a bigger company as its stock traded below $1 at times.

Speculation that MF Global will sell itself or parts of the company arise just a day following Moody's downgrade. By Friday (Oct. 24), it was assumed the company would definitely be sold over the weekend.

Goldman, Macquarie and State Street were initially rumored to be the most likely acquirers, but later reports note a slew of other banks expressing interest in buying MF Global or having been approached by CEO Jon Corzine.

Over the weekend, meetings and talks at MF Global continued as many expected a deal by Monday. But.

MF Global's board of directors and executives continues to meet over the weekend of Oct. 25th in a desperate mad dash to save the company. Many expect a deal to be done by Monday—or rather, a deal had to be complete by Monday for the firm to survive.

At the end of the weekend, it is reported that Interactive Brokers is a handshake away from sealing a deal to buy MF Global.

Oct. 31: Bankruptcy day

Despite over 200 years of history (it used to be part of Man Group), everything comes to a shattering end for MF Global around 10 am Oct. 31. The company files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after deal talks with Interactive Brokers fell apart.

MF Global does not a leave a pretty legacy in its last hours. Before the bankruptcy was publicized, shares of MF Global are halted and MF Global traders are blocked from going onto the floors of the CME, NYMEX and the Intercontinental Exchange. The New York Fed also strips the firm of its primary dealer status earlier.

A trustee, James Giddens, is appointed by the court to oversee the bankruptcy process.

After the bankruptcy filing, it is reported that there is a shortfall in segregated client funds at MF Global.

In the afternoon of Oct. 31, reports surface that there is about a $1 billion shortfall in segregated client funds at MF Global. After the news is publicized, the MF Global trustee immediately freezes all client accounts and the money in them, putting clients from hedge funds to farmers in a debilitating limbo that continues today.

The amount of missing money is later calculated to be around $600 million. JP Morgan and Harris Bank are the two entities initially connected with the investigation to where the shortfall may have landed.

It is a cardinal rule of Wall Street that client money are to remain strictly segregated from company funds. If the one responsible for the shortfall is found, criminal charges are very likely.

Federal agencies begin swooping in, and everyone is investigating MF Global at once.

Several federal agencies announce they are investigating MF Global following the bankruptcy and announcement of the $600 million in missing funds.

They include the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the SEC and the FBI.

CME Group, which owns the CME and NYMEX, also announce their own independent investigation.

On Nov. 4, Jon Corzine resigns from MF Global.

Jon Corzine resigns from his position as CEO and Chair of MF Global, and no one is named as a replacement, even in the interim. He does not take his severance, which was estimated to be about $12 million.

Corzine, who is most famous for being an ex-Goldman Sachs CEO and former democratic senator and governor of New Jersey, has been the face that many blamed for getting MF Global into this predicament. Corzine was the one who led MF Global's efforts in taking positions on European sovereign debt, which set off investor fears.