In the MF Global case, if there existed some element of management complicity - and it's a big if - then all it may take to open the flood gates is the damning testimony of a single employee. Representative Randy Neugebauer, who chairs the House Financial Oversight committee, is planning to hold a hearing on the MF Global’s misuse of roughly $1 billion in customer money that has still not been located.  The scheduled date is 3/28/12.  Global employees, at the center of a federal investigation that began in early November 2011, are expected to appear before the Congressional panel this month.

[C-I Side Comment: It's been quite a busy year for the House Financial Oversight committee, and from the look of things, it probably won't ease up in 2012, given all the changes afoot in the marketplace - new regulations and regulatory regimes, firm bankruptcies, consolidations, endless streams of financial crimes and civil frauds.]

Employees Likely To Appear. One notable employee, Edith O’Brien, is expected to invoke her constitutional right against compelled self-incrimination, one of the people said.  Ms. O’Brien has also declined to cooperate with federal prosecutors without first receiving immunity from criminal charges.  She would be the first MF Global employee to invoke her Fifth Amendment rights before Congress, potentially setting up a standoff with lawmakers. The oversight panel of the House Financial Services Committee has also contacted lawyers for Christine Serwinski and Christy Vavra, MF Global employees in Chicago who worked in the firm’s treasury operations.  It's unclear whether they will appear at the public hearing or simply agree to private interviews with the committee’s staff members. Laurie Ferber, the firm’s general counsel, who's based in the Manhattan headquarters, has been mentioned as another potential witness.  People who spoke about who the potential witnesses might be did so on the condition of anonymity because the witness list was not yet final or public, and Congressional officials are still in talks with lawyers for the potential witnesses.  Details of the hearing could still change. At earlier Congressional hearings, ex-CEO Jon Corzine denied knowing that the firm was tapping customer accounts to meet its own obligations, saying:  “I never gave any instructions to misuse customer money, never intended to give any instructions or authority to misuse customer funds, and I find it very hard to understand how anyone could misconstrue what I’ve said as a way to misuse customer money.” Customer cash was supposed to be off-limits to MF Global.  No one at MF Global, including Ms. O’Brien, Ms. Vavra, Ms. Serwinski, Ms. Ferber, and Mr. Corzine, has been accused of any wrongdoing. It is thought that Ms. Serwinski may have few to offer in terms of insights because she was on vacation during the week prior to the firm's collapse and bankruptcy filing.  Federal investigators appear to suspect that Ms. O’Brien, perhaps inadvertently, transferred about $200 million in customer money to JPMorgan - following orders from her superiors in the firm’s New York office, according to people briefed on the matter have said. For further details, go to:  [Dealbook, 3/15/12].