NEW YORK—A judge Wednesday said MF Global Inc. could distribute more than $480 million to unsecured creditors of the collapsed brokerage, bringing their recoveries to about 74% of what they are owed. “The results to date in these cases have certainly surprised me,” Judge Martin Glenn of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan said. “Enormous progress has been made.” Creditors should begin receiving the money 14 days after the judge signs the order. These creditors will have received nearly $1 billion after the payout, an outcome many considered unthinkable when the brokerage’s parent imploded into bankruptcy in the fall of 2011. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]

MF Global Inc. wants court approval to pay $461 million owed to its creditors, the second such payment now that it has paid back most of its customers. In a Wednesday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, trustee James W. Giddens said he wanted to distribute the cash to unsecured creditors, who have already received $518.7 million. The latest distribution would bring unsecured creditors’ payout to 72% of what Mr. Giddens has agreed to pay. MF Global’s brokerage and commodity customers have already received 100% of the $6.7 billion they were owed. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]

NEW YORK—A judge on Wednesday approved a payout to MF Global’s unsecured creditors, who have waited nearly three years as customers of the collapsed brokerage already had their money returned. Judge Martin Glenn of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan said James W. Giddens, the trustee in charge of winding down the brokerage, could pay the unsecured creditors about $295 million. A lawyer for Mr. Giddens said distributions to the unsecured creditors could begin as soon as the order is final. He also said settlements of unresolved claims could soon result in “very substantial” creditor distributions beyond the one approved Wednesday. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]

NEW YORK—MF Global’s creditors, who have waited nearly three years to get paid, will have to wait a little longer after a bankruptcy judge Monday held off approving its bid to repay them $295 million. Judge Martin Glenn of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan was uncomfortable with one part of the proposal: MF Global’s request to estimate certain unresolved claims at zero dollars. The judge said he was “not happy” that he didn’t have enough information on some of the claims. “I think I’d like to know what the claim is before I estimate it at zero,” Judge Glenn said, his voice raised. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered PricewaterhouseCoopers to face a $1 billion lawsuit claiming that its bad accounting advice was a substantial cause of the October 2011 bankruptcy of MF Global Holdings Ltd, a brokerage run by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan said PwC’s [PWC.UL] advice on “repurchase-to-maturity” transactions through which Corzine bought $6.3 billion of European sovereign debt affected how MF Global implemented its strategy and in turn contributed to its alleged losses. More on Reuters [...]

MF Global Inc. wants court approval to pay $295 million owed to its creditors, now that it has paid back most of its customers. In a Tuesday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, trustee James W. Giddens said he wanted to distribute $295 million to creditors, who have waited nearly three years as all but a few individual brokerage and commodity customers received 100% of payments owed. The bulk of the money is earmarked for unsecured creditors, who would receive a first distribution of about 20% of what Mr. Giddens has agreed to pay. Holders of secured, administrative and priority claims that have been resolved will get 100% of their money all at once if the request is approved. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]

MF Global Holdings Ltd. is urging a judge not to toss its $1 billion lawsuit against PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for the alleged bad accounting advice that MF Global says led to its 2011 collapse. In a filing earlier this week with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, lawyers for the administrator in charge of MF Global fought PwC’s argument that MF doesn’t have the standing to sue PWC. A PwC spokeswoman declined to comment. PWC argued in a May court filing that only MF Global’s litigation trustee, who is in charge of pursuing certain lawsuits on behalf of creditors, has standing to file the suit. MF Global says its administrator also has the right. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]

The trustee for the Securities and Protection Act liquidation of MF Global Inc. said Tuesday that final distribution on allowed customer claims was nearly complete, and that he was making “urgent efforts” to reconcile the remaining claims, most of which haven’t received final court approval.
James W. Giddens said that more than 99 percent of distributions on 26,000 allowed customer net equity claims were complete, with $6.37 billion going to more than 21,000 customers. Just under 2,000 claims remain, and Giddens said his staff was making several hundred calls a week in an attempt to spur the last customers to provide the necessary information and documentation in order to be paid. “The trustee is pleased that progress in the administration of the general estate has reached a point of now being able to anticipate filing motions by this fall for the full distribution of allowed administrative and priority claims and a sizeable interim distribution for general unsecured claims,” Giddens said. More on Law360 [...]

MF Global Holdings Ltd. wants a judge to slash the claims of former officers being sued over the broker-dealer’s bankruptcy, including ex-Chief Executive Jon S. Corzine, so the estate can quickly pay back other creditors. In a Thursday filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, lawyers for the team winding down MF Global asked Judge Martin Glenn to cancel certain claims filed by Mr. Corzine and others, or at the very least, place them below those of other creditors or estimate the maximum amount the officers could receive. In the filing, administrator winding down MF Global said, without the approval, “these contingent and unliquidated claims will unduly delay the administration of the Chapter 11 Cases and prevent the Plan Administrator from making distributions to all creditors.” With an approval, some creditors of MF Global’s Finance USA unit could see some of their money within weeks, the filing said. A hearing on the matter is set for June 19. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]

Jon Corzine and other former insiders of collapsed brokerage MF Global can tap another $10 million of insurance funds to defend lawsuits accusing them of hastening the firm’s downfall, a U.S. judge said on Monday. Judge Martin Glenn granted the request from Corzine and the others at a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, raising to $40 million from $30 million the cap on what the defendants can draw. Glenn authorized roughly $3.7 million more to pay the legal fees of defendants no longer involved in the cases. However, the judge was irked at the request, saying he had expected the initial $30 million to cover most of the litigation. More on Reuters [...]