MF Global management "seriously underestimated both the speed and extent" of the panic that overtook the securities firm in late October, a bankruptcy trustee said yesterday, adding that he might pursue claims against former chief executive Jon Corzine.

In a 275-page report filed with a bankruptcy court yesterday morning, James Giddens, now winding down MF Global's US brokerage unit, outlined how the aggressive trading strategy pushed by Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs Group chairman and New Jersey governor, brought MF Global to the brink.