This U/Ill paper explains what happens when a commodity trader like MF Global goes bankrupt and speculates on how much moeny is left to pay accounts and how that would happen.
http://www.farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2012/01/customer_accounts_and_the_mf_g.html
Here's the conclusion but you need to read the rest of the 1 page document to see how it all works.
"Will former MF Global customers ever see the remaining 28% of their funds? The answer to this question depends in large part on whether the bankruptcy trustee and others are successful in recovering the missing $1.2 billion in customer funds. It also depends on whether the proceeds from the liquidation of any other MF Global assets (mostly cash and securities, estimated by the trustee at $290 million) are applied to the shortfall in customer funds, or instead used to pay other creditors. In a January 18 filing to the bankruptcy court, the CFTC argued that commodity customers must be made whole, even if this requires others to be sent away empty-handed. This and other issues likely will be resolved in the courts, so it may be many months before the final outcome is known."
