Giddens said that both the Commodities Exchange Act and the Securities Investor Protection Act "give a priority to customers, and if there is a shortfall there are provisions in both statutes that say other assets ought to be reached to cover those shortfalls." He added that other parties may see that issue "as a matter of conflict."

100 Percent

Giddens has said he intends to return 100 percent of customer funds if possible. The brokerage had about 38,000 commodity customers and about 400 securities customers. Securities customers, who can be refunded partly by the Securities Investor Protection Corp., Giddens said.

Giddens has already set in motion the return of about $4 billion in customer funds. Last week, a bankruptcy judge approved the last of three so-called bulk distributions to customers, allowing them to recover 72 percent of what they lost when the brokerage failed.

MF Global Holdings filed the eighth-largest U.S. bankruptcy after a wrong-way $6.3 billion trade on its own behalf on bonds of some of Europe's most indebted nations. The company entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy to apportion returns to creditors, including bondholders and lenders such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., while Giddens is overseeing distributions to customers at MF Global Inc. under the Securities Investor Protection Act.

Complicating matters, assets for customers that traded in foreign futures are now under the control of foreign bankruptcy trustees, Giddens said.

Foreign Recovery

"While I will pursue them vigorously, experience dictates that recovery of these foreign assets may be more uncertain and may take more time," he said.

Separately, Giddens said in court papers filed yesterday that recoveries of so-called preference payments from lawsuits "will not be a material amount," as the company paid out an estimated $62 million within 90 days of the start of the liquidation.

JPMorgan isn't a "current client" of Giddens's law firm, according to a court filing. Giddens's firm ended "minor patent work" for JPMorgan and collected less than $2,000 in fees from the New York-based bank in 2011, Giddens said.