JPMorgan assured about MF Global funds Demands by JPMorgan Chase to replenish an over-drawn account led MF Global, the failed US broker-dealer, to transfer cash from a customer account to one of its own, according to a senior JPMorgan official. This triggered doubts at JPMorgan about whether MF Global had wrongfully used customer money to cover its own shortfall, Diane Genova, deputy general counsel at JPMorgan's investment bank, said in her prepared testimony to a Congress hearing on Wednesday. The $175m overdraft needed to be corrected before JPMorgan would ease the path for a last-minute auction of about $5bn of the failing futures broker's assets, as MF Global tried to generate much-needed cash during its final days. Ms Genova said that the bank had asked Jon Corzine, MF Global's chief executive, for written confirmation that the funds indeed belonged to the futures broker - and not to its customers, according to her prepared remarks ahead of the Congressional hearing. Though JPMorgan never obtained written confirmation, the bank received "multiple clear oral assurances from senior MF Global officials that MF Global was in compliance with its obligations" under US rules, according to Ms Genova's prepared remarks. The circumstances surrounding that transfer of funds, and whether MF Global officials knowingly used customer money to cover its account deficits, may shed new light on how some $1.6bn in customer funds went missing during MF Global's final days before its October 31 bankruptcy. MF Global's claims appears to have provided JPMorgan with enough reassurance that the bank felt comfortable proceeding with its auction of the broker's assets. At the time, MF Global was in desperate need of liquidity in order to meet various margin calls, collateral requests from counterparties and withdrawals from clients. Other banks had frozen MF Global's credit lines. The $175m overdraft led to JPMorgan "holding up vital business," according to an email from an MF Global treasurer that was obtained by congressional investigators. Mr Corzine also expressed frustration with JPMorgan's delays. JPMorgan likely had intimate knowledge of MF Global's finances: the bank acted as one of the broker's creditors, custodian banks and clearing banks. Congressional investigators pointed to "new developments in its long-standing business relationships" as causes of additional stress on the broker's liquidity position. Mr Corzine has previously testified to Congress that he was not aware whether clients" money was inappropriately used. An MF Global treasurer, who Mr Corzine publicly identified as Edith O'Brien when questioned about various account transfers, wrote in an email that the JPMorgan-related transfer of $200m was "per JC's [Jon Corzine's] direct instructions," according to congressional investigators.