Corzine’s Testimony: Completely Unaware of Absolutely Everything that Went on at MF Global
- Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:40pm by
Becket Adams
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WASHINGTON (The Blaze/AP) — Jon Corzine told a congressional panel Thursday that he “never intended” to break rules requiring failed securities firm MF Global to safeguard client funds.
In fact, after having watched his testimony, one might come away believing that he never intended to do anything, ever. It was his “go-to” answer for just about every question thrown his way.
As predicted earlier on The Blaze, Corzine stuck to his prepared remarks and claimed that he didn’t know what happened to the estimated $1.2 billion that went missing.
Corzine testified before the House Agriculture Committee for nearly three hours about the firm’s bankruptcy, which followed disastrous bets on European debt that were made while Corzine was CEO.
Corzine deflected blame for the company’s collapse. He argued that he inherited a firm already doomed by his predecessors’ bad financial decisions. However, considering that in a little over a year Corzine successfully bankrupted an almost 230 year-old organization, that line of defense may not work.
He appeared strained and at times grasped for words. Corzine choose not to exercise his Fifth Amendment right but instead engaged in what can only be described as a masterful performance of answering “yes” and “no” questions with non-answers.
“His answers were cautiously worded,” writes the Associated Press. To many, that would seem to be a very polite way of saying “he answered by not answering.”
He often said he couldn’t recall or lacked access to materials needed for him to answer.
“I’m not in a position, given the number of transactions, to know anything specific about the movement of any specific funds,” he said.
He also said he accepts responsibility for the firm‘s risky bets and said its customers’ losses weigh on his mind “every day – every hour.”
"On the eve before MF Global's dismal earnings release, Jon Corzine feasted on a steak dinner with bankers and traders at New York’s Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, Bloomberg reported."
Oh, really?
“I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date,” Corzine reiterated on numerous occasions.
He said he can’t say whether there were “operational errors” at MF Global or whether other companies have held onto money that should be returned to MF Global.
Corzine defended his tenure at the firm. He said MF Global toppled, in part, because of a large quarterly loss caused by his predecessors’ accounting moves. Rating agencies responded to the loss by downgrading the firm’s credit rating, which panicked investors and trading partners.
“The marketplace lost confidence in our firm,” he said.
He said he made the high-stakes bets only after discussions with company executives who traded European debt long before he arrived. And he said that he reduced MF Global’s investment risks by some measures.
Of course, several experts have challenged that assertion.
Janet Tavakoli, an expert on the transactions MF Global specialized in, said Corzine‘s remarks divert attention from the firm’s fundamental flaw: It lacked the cash to cover its bets after investors started to fear that a major European nation would default.
“His entire testimony looks like a very skilled way to try to detract from that key issue,” said Tavakoli, president of Tavakoli Structured Finance.
Lawmakers have heard from farmers, ranchers and small business owners in their districts who are missing money deposited with the firm.
Legal experts say Corzine could be held personally liable for misrepresenting to investors the risks the firm had taken. Other top MF Global executives also could face legal jeopardy, they say. Corzine will say Thursday that the company’s board signed off on the investments and was aware of the risks involved.
Several class-action lawsuits on behalf of shareholders have been filed against Corzine and three other top executives. A bankruptcy court is consolidating the suits. They accuse the firm and its leaders of making false statements about MF Global’s strength and cash balances.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Comments (148)
jamestoms
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:28pmMis-placing a billion, no big deal, I’m sure the maid put it in another drawer. That happens to everybody, heck the Prez has lost a couple trillon in no time, anybody care where that went? Come on give him a break, pleeeeeease!!!!!!
Report Post »AirtechJr
Posted on December 9, 2011 at 8:05amI believe what has started will soon be known as the “Holder Defense” He did not know, or, he had no “intent” on lying. Funny how it IS always politicians that get away with it, and civilians like Martha and such do time for far less. Our government IS very corrupt.
Report Post »old white guy
Posted on December 9, 2011 at 9:07amwow. this guy is supposed to be intelligent. just another i forgot to pay my taxes geithner.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on December 9, 2011 at 10:48amSounds like him and Eric(FAST AND FURIOUS)Holder have the same script.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on December 9, 2011 at 1:44pmHe and Holder are applying the Ray Lewis technique.
Report Post »chazman
Posted on December 9, 2011 at 3:22pm… ask OBAMMY. He knows where the money went. Corzine is an idiot …
Report Post »V-MAN MACE
Posted on December 9, 2011 at 7:13pm“I know NOTHING!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgcxGFmYyPs&feature=player_detailpage#t=24s
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:25pmCorzine is a slimy MF criminal just like his friend Barry Sotero.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:36pmHa. Corzine doesn’t know where the money is. And Barry Soetoro Obama won’t release his “school records.” Such mysterious worlds they inhabit…
Report Post »THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:49pmThey know exactly where the money is..EVERY transaction is recorded on computers, the question is how much of the looted money are the watch dogs going to get for looking the other way?
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:52pmGuys like this go the very finest schools. They claim an uncommon understanding of finance and economics (not proved). They BS their way into politics and find their way into corporate board rooms.
The facts here demonstrate that Corzine is corrupt intellectually, morally and ethically. He bankrupted the state of New Jersey and destroyed MF Global. More than a $Billion dollars of investors cash vanished under this CEO.
He is the same EXACT kind of crook as B. Maddoff, Barney Frank, Chris Dood, Tim Geithner and Franklin Raines. So far, the only one NOT to WALK has been the outsider: Maddoff. All others are insiders. All will walk. Americans will pay.
Report Post »GeorgieJo
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 10:10pmBernie MADOFF CORZINE—–>Obummers and Biden’s GOOD BUDDY
Report Post »Enough said.
AOL_REFUGEE
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 10:46pmAnd this M-F-er was going to get a $12 million bonus? For WHAT?
Report Post »Secret Squirrel
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 11:30pm.
Let’s see:
Senator from NJ.
Former head of the hated Goldman Sachs.
Obama’s first pick for Treasury Secretary.
Does that sound like a stupid man?
Yet he is CEO of a company getting taxpayer money
and asks us to believe that $1.2 billion just got lost?
This guy needs to do serious jail time.
I know where to look for the missing money.
Report Post »The Obama re-election campaign coffers.
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:18pmShould I just die laughing at this mans testimony or just say “It figures”?
Report Post »JustJP
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:11pmHe should just admit he stole the funds, because oblivious will sneak in a pardon for him and Rezko on Nov 3rd 2012
Report Post »da Trigger
Posted on December 9, 2011 at 11:07amNo it will be Jan 19th 2013 and if Eric Holder is still employed by the WH, he will do it as he has experience doing the same thing for Bill Clinton.
Report Post »garyM
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:10pmObama’s buddy, remember Obama totting his honorable horn in 2009 and he lost anyway!
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:32pmAnd Pelosi said the Democrats were going to ” drain the swamp.” ( Think I am envisioning another Republican campaign video ! )
Report Post »NOBALONEY
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:08pmJohn Dean Sequel! For both Holder and Corzine.
Report Post »BONETRAUMA
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:08pmDude, I‘m like really stoned and I just don’t have a clue. You know man, haven’t you ever stumbled around and just thought…I‘m waisted and can’t find my way home?
Report Post »netmail
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:38pmYeah and DUDE, WHERE’S MY CAR? is his favorite movie too.
Report Post »staggerlee32
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:06pmI hope more people wake up and realize they have been living in “The Matrix”. Did you all know that the brothers that wrote the movie “The Matrix” wrote it about our world? Anyone who has truelly awoken and has seen the movie will know what I’m talking about. Everything has been a lie and they have indoctrinated millions and millions of people. Satan took 33% of the angels with him and they have all been working hard to get to this point.
Report Post »OlefromMN
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:11pmIf Satan has 33% that means we have 67%. We outnumber them and don’t need to fear them in that sense.
Report Post »staggerlee32
Posted on December 9, 2011 at 1:02amlol… I don’t fear them, but if you want to know why the world is the way it is, that would be why.
Report Post »blue_sky
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:04pm.
The Blaze & Beck does not want you to know how RON PAUL was exposed over ISRAEL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFZpL8F4FgU
.
Report Post »Shasta
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:50pmAnd that has what to do with Corzine? You Paulies are amazing. While I do not agree with all of Dr. Paul’s positions on Israel, I will admit that his statement that Israel should do what ever it takes to protect itself, and we should stay out of it. Keep in mind, Israel has never asked for our troops, nor will they, but if it was not for our support, they would not now be in a position to protect themselves. Moreover, Paul’s position on Iran is the main reason I could never support him.
Report Post »blue_sky
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 9:06pmRP position on Iran is simple. If people believe Iran is a threat, they should lobby the Congress to declare the war. Then RP will execute it. I see what the problem, unless you are not a conservative and want to cherry-pick our constitution.
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 9:43pmBLUE_SKY part 1
“unless you are not a conservative and want to cherry-pick our constitution”.
Paul himself writing on antiwar.com says:
Report Post »“Thomas Jefferson spoke for the founders and all our early presidents when he stated: ‘peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none…’ which is, ‘one of the essential principles of our government’. The question is: Whatever happened to this principle and should it be restored?”
Perhaps Paul forgets America’s 1801-05 war with the Islamic terrorists known as the Barbary Pirates? Paul’s interpretation of American history is false. This writer explained in “The Colonial War against Islam”:
“In 1786, Thomas Jefferson, then U.S. ambassador to France, and John Adams, then American Ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the Dey’s ambassador to Britain, in an attempt to negotiate a peace treaty based on Congress’ vote of funding. To Congress, these two future presidents later reported the reasons for the Muslims’ hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts.
Next:
RepubliCorp
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 9:54pmBlue Part 2
Report Post »“‘…that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.’”
Apparently Paul chooses to remember only the parts of American history which benefit his arguments. As part of the War on Terror Paul wants the US to abandon, the US Navy is on duty fighting Islamic pirates off the coast of Somalia, in the Persian Gulf, and Southeast Asia.
BONETRAUMA
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:03pmI am in no position to know what the hell goes on at my company. Things happen you know. Ask the janitor, he will be in around 930 pm and he has all the answers, we leave them in the trash.
Report Post »shorthanded12
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:03pmI swear I swear I didnt see or hear a thing. Such scripted “BS”, Just as bad as Barry sitting in the pews for 20 years and claiming he didnt hear a dam thing.
Report Post »hersey10
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:02pmWall Street Journal is reporting that the MF collapse was a big win for the George Soros family fund .
Report Post »BONETRAUMA
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:09pmShocked, Just shocked!
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:29pmSOROS invested his billions into “media groups” for this election . Think we hear from some of those funds here…
Report Post »OlefromMN
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:01pmDrudge’s headline was the best…”Where’s the money MF”
Yet the beat goes on and this will just be another scandal under the Obama administration to be ignored. Notice how we get inundated with these to the point we forget to keep our eye on the earlier ones. Anybody talking about Solyndra anymore?
Next…
Report Post »cloudsofwar
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:59pmright on. he is Obamas buddy.
Report Post »Banter
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:58pmIt‘s in obama’s wallet, or in trumpka’s treasure chest, or in the muslim bro’s warchest. Regardless, it is awaiting distribution to obama’s reelection campaign.
Report Post »Donald
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:57pmCorruption
Lawless
Wicked..
Jesus himself said this
Matthew Chapter 24-25
Jon embezzled the money then lost it trying to big a big Soros like player.
Report Post »cloudsofwar
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:55pmLOL i don’t know where that money is, wink wink. my buddies in congress will protect me. the corruption in DC is enough to make you sick. maybe congress should ask Obama. so many transactions so little time to steal. Corzine will walk, he knows too much.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:55pmI‘m just surprised he didn’t Blame Bush .
Report Post »Sun Baked *******
Posted on December 9, 2011 at 3:04pmHE did sorta “Corzine deflected blame for the company’s collapse. He argued that he inherited a firm already doomed by his predecessors’ bad financial decisions”
Report Post »ALWAYS someone elses fault…..”I don’t know what happened, I am just a helpless victim.”
paulusmaximus
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:55pmThis is Obama’s choice to protect us from credit card fraud and excessive bank charges. reminds me for the joke about the financial adviser and the farmers daughters. there was >>>>>>>>>>
Report Post »jdtanker
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:54pmAnother politician blaming predecessors for their failures.
Report Post »AR485
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:53pmMF about sums him up.
Report Post »cloudsofwar
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:58pmoh now i know what MF means. thank you
Report Post »Hickory
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:52pmThe Sgt. Shultz act is not working. Sniff, sniff. Do I smell something buring? Oh my, Corzine’s pants are on fire.
Report Post »drago
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:04pm@Hickory
Report Post »Thats not smoke from his pants being on fire your smelling……..
Jenny Lind
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:51pmHe is exactly why no one wants to invest or trust anymore. I won’t. The stock left to me from my husband from G.M. lost value so quickly I was stunned-then the bankrutcy, so what was left was gone. No. I will not invest in the future, it’s playing poker in a no win game.Hope he goes to jail and loses everything he owns, although the one who went to jail, (Bernie?) his wife sure isn’t in the poor house.
Report Post »mils
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:03pmMany farmers have been financially devastated by this mess. We can’t trust anyone anymore with out money.
Report Post »I think people like Corzine and Madoff should be exiled to live in Africa, some pleace like Somalia. There is no punishment that can cover the damage they have done with their lies and greed.
There has to be accountability by an unbiased civilian. board that has to produce a public review every quarter for this amount of money and investors.
He doesn’t know where the money is because they have spent it…,
netmail
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 8:59pmYes, and let me take a moment to remember Prudential Bache (‘Get a piece of the rock’) who stole most of my mother‘s hard earned money in the late 80’s with their limited partnership scams. Capitalism is what rocks but those who threaten it with corruption should BUST rocks for life…or worse. Dismantling our faith and trust in financial systems is killing our country even more than drug traffickers do. I want to see RADICAL changes in punishments for financial scammers for they are murderers too when you get right down to it.
Report Post »Al J Zira
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:50pmOh c’mon! Haven’t we all misplaced $2.1 billion once or twice in our lives?
Report Post »Mimi24
Posted on December 10, 2011 at 9:46pmI did just last week. smh. Where did it go?
Report Post »fande3rls
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 7:47pmDidn’t know were the money went really john , Lier , Go to jail corzine go to jail.
Report Post »