According to Joe Nocera, OpEd columnist for The New York Times, it's starting to look as if Jon Corzine is going to get away with it.  In no uncertain terms, Mr. Nocera states that MF Global executives committed a crime.  And, notwithstanding all the difficulties that prosecutors and federal investigators have encountered in this complex financial case, it would be unconscionable for the government to fail and prosecute anyone at MF Global - essentially it would be a 'travesty of justice'.  [C-I's words] Segregated Customer Funds. For one thing, they committed the "sin of sins for a broker-dealer" by tapping segregated customer funds to prop up its rapidly collapsing business.  In the aftermath of the firm's bankruptcy filing, we came to learn that a "stunning $1.6 billion is missing" - out of $6.9 billion in customer assets that MF Global once held - with virtually no chance of ever being recovered.  And then there are various violations of the Commodities Exchange Act - in which "virtually every knowing violation is a crime." Smoking Gun. Mr. Nocera refers to an article several weeks back in the NYTimes, suggesting that prosecutors were having trouble putting together a criminal case against anyone at MF Global.  So far, reporters Ahmed and Protess wrote that prosecutors had been "unable to find a smoking gun."  And, they added, "a number of federal prosecutors have expressed doubts" that MF Global "intentionally misused customer money."  Apparently, the current theory is that it was all just a big accident, the chaos of those final days causing the firm’s executives to tap into customer funds without realizing it. Well, of course, it's difficult to find a smoking gun, because few people are stupid enough to lay out their intentions to hit customer funds and violate commodities rules in emails, recorded phone calls, or other retained records. Chaos. As for the chaos, you bet it was chaotic at the end. How could it not have been? As described last month by trustee James Giddens: "The rush to meet funding needs ... led to billions of dollars in securities sales, draws on credit facilities and a web of intercompany loans. ... The company’s computer systems and employees had trouble keeping up. ... A number of transactions were recorded erroneously or not at all. ..."  And so on. Intentional vs. Unintentional. To not prosecute anyone at MF Global would effectively send out a signal that executives at a broker-dealer can indeed steal customer money and get away with it — so long as it was "unintentional."  It also would deepen the cynicism so many people feel about government.  And then there's the scuttlebutt that Mr. Nocera has heard, suggesting that prosecution of Corzine would hurt President Obama - a theory Mr. Nocera does not subscribe to, but certainly can understand why others might. Greater Good Theory. While the investigation continues - including the search for that elusive smoking gun - it's possible that prosecutors, in the end, will decide they can’t make a case.  If that happens - i.e., and the big guts get a pass - it will not be good for the financial markets, and it will not be good for democracy, either.  And, if that comes to pass, prosecutors should full-well understand what they are doing or have done - because their actions speak volumes to "the rest of us" - and that they have failed to fulfill the 'greater good theory' as it pertains to the country. Click to reference:  [NYTimes, 3/12/12, Nocera's Opinion Piece].