(Image source : Business Insider)

BY CAMILLE MAESTRACCI

ANCHOR BLAKE HANSON

U.S. brokerage firm MF Global is, allegedly, broke! The company got into trouble over bets on the European debt. It announced its liquidation late October and is now laying off more than one thousand people. NPR gives the details.

Reporter 1: They took out a $300 million loan a month ago, then spent it. Finally, last week, even as it looked that European leaders were near a deal, the stock of MF Global plummeted. Investors were fleeing the ugly scene. Corzine was left holding the bag.

Reporter 2: It's your uncle that has run out of money, you know, betting on the ponies, and now he asks you for just $300 more and he's going to be fine. And you give him that three, and it's still not enough. And now it's over.

So it appears the European crisis has claimed its first US victim. A strategist with Street Talk Advisers tells The Guardian it doesn’t look good for anyone.

"Europe is in a recession, China is going too slow, and the US will follow … I don't see a positive way out of this: we have no leadership in Washington or Europe. The only solution they come up with is creating more debt to deal with a problem that was created by more debt."

MF Global is also under investigation for the loss of nearly six hundred thousand dollars that is missing from the company’s records.  MSNBC reports—the company’s clients are getting understandably angry.

“In a foot note, it says the trustee will liquidate all property if it cannot return the missing $600,000 dollars in the next two weeks. But the trustee said yesterday there is no timeline on finding it. So if you are a client you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t and you’re gonna be hearing for a lot of them. They’re getting very vocal and not happy about this.”

The New York Times reports Federal regulators have ordered an audit of every American futures trading firm to verify that customer money is protected. 

Meanwhile, two reporters from the Wall Street Journal try to evaluate the future opportunities of MF Global’s former employees—all of whom were laid off without severance. 

Reporter 1: I was talking to a few recruiters. There’re options for brokers who can bring in commissions over million dollars. If you are a great producer there’s gonna be room for you. For the prop traders who are gonna be leaving, there are opportunities at some firms in Chicago. There’s a few prop trading firms over there.

Reporter 2: A lot of the MF Global people are on the commodity side and there are actually based in Chicago. They work in the CMEs.

Reporter 1: And also don’t forget about the Cantor Fitzgerald, the interactive brokers…

Reporter 2: Right there are other mid-tier or mid-size brokers..."