As a result of its spectacular tech fail on Aug. 1, Knight Capital became the latest financial services firm to have pushed to the brink of collapse before being either rescued at the eleventh hour or permanently wiped out.
August 10, 2012
MF Global
On Oct. 31, 2011, MF Global collapsed into bankruptcy, on the shoulders of a huge $6.3 billion bet by Jon Corzine on European sovereign bonds. Corzine had only begun his tenure at the firm in March 2010. At that time, Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings told him he needed to fire up profits fast or face downgrades on the securities firm's debt. To date, an estimated $1.2 billion in customer funds are still missing, according to the bankruptcy trustee of MF Global's brokerage unit.
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