MF Global May Not Be Able to Pay Clients Back: Trustee

More than 250 customers met in New York on Thursday with James Giddens, the trustee in charge of liquidating the brokerage and returning money to customers, for an update on the status of his investigation into what may be $1.2 billion missing from their accounts.

Giddens and his team of lawyers said they may not be able to make another mass transfer of funds above the roughly $3.8 billion they have already paid out. That figure represents about 72 percent of the total money held in customer accounts when the firm went under, leaving many customers still thousands or millions of dollars out of pocket.

"At this point we're not in a position to do another bulk transfer," said James Kobak, a attorney for the trustee. "That situation might change as we get through the claims process. It would also depend on our ability to recover additional assets."

Customers are being asked to submit claim forms for their missing funds by the end of this month. The trustee said that once he receives all claims, his $1.2 billion estimate may rise or fall. His estimate has been challenged by other agencies involved in the probe, which say the gap may be only half as big.