MF Global Trustee Did Not Intend To Intimidate When He Sent Intimidating Letter

So James Giddens, who is working diligently to find John Corzine's former clients' money, sent a letter to a few MF Global introducing brokers and other vendors. One-hundred and forty, give or take. The missive includes words and phrases like, "considering whether to seek to recover" and "records suggest" you may have "received more than" you should and "litigation" and "right to insist on payment."

In retrospect, now that it's been brought to his attention by The New York Times, the trustee sheepishly acknowledges that these may seem like arm-twisting tactics. But he assures you that when he wrote all of those things and then offered to go away if you paid him 90% of what he was asking for, bullying you was the furthest thing from his mind.

While acknowledging that “we do want to get the attention of the recipients of these letters,” Mr. Jarrell said that Mr. Giddens did not intend to intimidate anyone. The letters, he said, were sent out of fairness to examine whether anyone “in effect, got 100 cents on the dollar, to the detriment” of MF Global’s creditors.

“These are standard and routine letters sent out to a limited number of sophisticated parties, many of whom have counsel and already have filed claims against the MF Global Inc. estate,” Mr. Jarrell said.

Threatening Letters Sent to 140 MF Global Vendors [DealBook]