MF Global appeared to move some money out of client accounts in its brokerage unit after an audit by the CME Group was completed early last week, which is a violation of federal rules. The announcement by CME comes as regulators continue to search for hundreds of millions of dollars still missing from MF Global’s brokerage accounts. It may also fuel suspicions that the firm moved the money in its final days, when it faced mounting demands to produce additional capital to shore up its trades. CME completed an audit of MF Global’s books around Monday or Tuesday, certifying that the brokerage firm was in compliance with rules governing segregated customer accounts. That meant that money in customers’ accounts was adequately separated from each account and from MF Global’s own money. But it now appears that the firm transferred money out of those accounts “in a manner that may have been designed to avoid detection,” a move that MF Global did not disclose to CME or to regulators until early Monday morning, shortly before the firm filed for bankruptcy. As of the end of the business day on Tuesday, about $633mn in MF Global’s client accounts could not be accounted for, CME wrote to the CFTC yesterday. That was approximately 11.6% of the minimum collateral requirement for MF Global. MF Global apparently did not follow CME rules mandating that brokerage firms report immediately when client accounts fell below minimum collateral requirements, or were “under-segregated.” Firms are also required to report the daily status of customer segregated accounts. In its statement, CME said that the last reports it had received from MF Global did not show any customer accounts that had fallen below minimum requirements. In fact, the exchange said, it showed that the client accounts actually exceeded the minimum. [Dealbook, 11/2/11]