Update: I don’t have a link because I’m traveling for work today, but I heard a news report indicating Corzine will not be pleading the 5th. Apparently he will just say he dies not recall, and that sort of thing. He wants to avoid a PR nightmare.
****
The Washington Post reports that former New Jersey Governor and US Senator Jon Corzine, a Democrat, will testify that he was shocked when he found out his firm MF Global lost hundreds of millions of their customers’ dollars. (Did I mention that President Obama and Vice President Biden often sought his advice on the economy?)
Jon S. Corzine, the former U.S. senator and New Jersey governor who presided over the collapse of the commodities brokerage MF Global, says he cannot explain what happened to “many hundreds of millions of dollars” that the firm was holding for customers.
In testimony prepared for delivery to Congress Thursday, Corzine says he was “stunned” to learn shortly before the firm sought bankruptcy protection at the end of October that MF Global could not account for the money.
“I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date,” the former MF Global chief executive says, according to the testimony.
Regulators pushed MF Global into bankruptcy court on Halloween after an effort to sell the troubled firm unraveled. The firm is now in liquidation.
The firm was required to keep clients’ money separated from its own. But more than $1.2 billion may be missing, the trustee overseeing the firm’s liquidation said last month. (Read More)
It wasn’t until the 8th paragraph that WaPo got around to telling readers he will be invoking his Fifth Amendment rights against self incrimination. The New York Post did a little better.
Former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine will not answer questions from a congressional committee seeking to get to the bottom of the brokerage firm’s collapse, The Post has learned.
Corzine, who has been subpoenaed to testify before the House Agriculture Committee tomorrow, is expected to plead the Fifth Amendment in response to most hard-hitting questions, sources said.
That means the one person who may know the whereabouts of the $1.2 billion in missing customer cash will not be giving up much.
One source close the committee said while he might provide a limited statement, Corzine — the former New Jersey Governor and CEO of Goldman Sachs — was not expected to “say anything of substance” during the hearing. (Read More)
Did you expect anything more from Corzine?
Tags: congress, Fifth Amendment, Jon Corzine, MF Global, testimony
Let’s see… Democrat directed government regulators actually doing their job, throwing red meat to Republicans to feed on with subpoenas, hearings….all encompassing a progressive Democrat and money…hummm…could this be political payback? Methinks so.
Corzine was the first Governor to endorse Hillary Clinton for president in 2008 and Dear Leader has probably had a smoldering resentment about that.
The beauty of it from The Regime’s perspective is that it looks like it’s all been pushed by Republicans. It’s the Chicago way.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/jon_bubba_twist_2uQpRRaeEVM7RNVGelCojO
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
You also have to understand that the guy came in late 2010, and the place was already on its way down, and going through a rather tricky transference of roles to start actually making money.
He also put money in the company, and probably lost a lot of it when the place went bankrupt unexpectedly.
Overall, I think this is a case of a CEO going in, trying to turn a company around, and then getting left with the bag when everything blew up.
He wasn’t AROUND the company long enough to plan anything, and he probably really didn’t know what was going on until the last month of it. Not to say it isn’t right. Especially because a lot of the money that’s missing was money that farmers used to buy seed for the new crop year…
Just can’t place blame all on one person however. There was a board that discussed and made a lot of decisions, that most likely had most of the power in the company regardless.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0