A group representing former customers of MF Global Holdings Ltd. (MFGLQ) on Monday charged that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) is trying to unfairly claim their assets in a court tussle over the remains of the bankrupt broker-dealer.

The Commodity Customer Coalition, which said in a statement Monday that it "informally" represents more than 2,500 clients of MF Global, objected to the idea that they be required to shoulder the firm's losses after an estimated $600 million was discovered missing from customer accounts, raising the possibility that MF Global mixed the funds with its own money.

"We're simply asserting that if MF Global comingled funds from customer accounts, or cannot properly account for them, J.P. Morgan can't lay claim to those funds as if they were their own," said James Koutoulas, chief executive of Typhon Capital Management LLC, a former client of MF Global who has led the organization of other customers.

"Moreover, since there is excess equity in MF Global's estate, that money has to go to customers to make them whole, it's that simple," Koutoulas said in a statement.

A spokesman for J.P. Morgan was not immediately available for comment.

The group also seeks to put a customer representative onto the creditors' committee as MF Global's bankruptcy plays out, according to the statement.

-By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; 312 750 4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com
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