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Months before MF Global teetered on the brink, federal regulators were seeking to rein in the types of risky trades that contributed to the firm’s collapse. But they faced opposition from an influential opponent: Jon S. Corzine, the head of the then little-known brokerage firm. As a former United States senator and a former governor of New Jersey, as well as the leader of Goldman Sachs in the 1990s, Mr. Corzine carried significant weight in the worlds of Washington and Wall Street. While other financial firms employed teams of lobbyists to fight the new regulation, MF Global’s chief executive in...

(Reuters) - MF Global Holdings Ltd Chief Executive Jon Corzine resigned, four days after the futures brokerage filed for bankruptcy protection. In a statement issued by a Corzine spokesman, Corzine said he voluntarily offered to step down, saying his decision was best for the company and its stakeholders.

Carl Quintanilla: There's also a political element to this, and some people tell you if this had been a former Republican senator, or a Republican governor, the main-stream press would be much more aggressive than it is but because he was a Democrat, is a Democrat, because he was a friend of the President, that they've somehow, maybe... I guess they're saying that we've been soft on him... ? Dan Primack: You know, it's interesting... I'm not one to buy media conspiracies, or left-wing media conspiracies, it's not my bias, and to be honest, if we could pull off a...

Jon S. Corzine has hired Andrew J. Levander, a leading white-collar criminal defense lawyer, according to three people briefed on the matter, as the former New Jersey governor deals with fallout from the collapse of MF Global, the brokerage firm he has run since last year. Federal authorities including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the $630 million in missing customer funds at MF Global. Mr. Levander could not be reached as he is out of the country, according to his assistant. He did not return an email seeking comment. Daniel O’Donnell, the...

Jon S. Corzine has hired Andrew J. Levander, a leading white-collar criminal defense lawyer, according to three people briefed on the matter, as the former New Jersey governor deals with fallout from the collapse of MF Global, the brokerage firm he has run since last year. Federal authorities including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the $630 million in missing customer funds at MF Global. Mr. Levander could not be reached as he is out of the country, according to his assistant. He did not return an email seeking comment. Daniel O’Donnell, the...

Corzine lobbied feds to ease regsBy MARK DECAMBRE and KAJA WHITEHOUSE Last Updated: 11:42 PM, November 3, 2011 Months before the stunning collapse of MF Global, the embattled brokerage firm mounted a full-court press to compel regulators to allow it to tap customer funds to invest in the kind of dicey sovereign debt that led to its demise. The lobbying effort was in response to new rules that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, run by chairman Gary Gensler, was planning to impose on broker-dealers, restricting them from making investments with client money in sovereign debt securities. Broker-dealers are allowed to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are launching a broad review into the business practices of failed futures brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd as their hunt continues for over $600 million in missing customer money. Round-the-clock shifts for examiners have become the norm as they sort through the collapse of the firm headed by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. MF Global filed for bankruptcy on Monday after risky bets on European debt scared away clients and investors. "We will look at every aspect of how the firm conducted business," Mary Schapiro, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, told...

New acronym for those of you who don't know it already: W.R.O.L. = Without Rule of Law. Sadly, the MF Global clients are learning first-hand what WROL is and what it feels like. This is just the very, very beginning of WROL in (what once was) the United States. I have talked to several cattle industry contacts who had accounts with MF Global. They have been calling me looking for guidance and assurance that everything is going to be okay and that they are going to be made whole. Sadly, for me to tell them any such thing would be...

And now back to the concept of WROL. I have told the MF Global customers that I have spoken to this week that they should spiritually accept the fact that all of their money is gone. IF there is any reparation, it will take a very long time, and it will be far less than what was stolen from them. This way, if they do get any money back, they will be pleasantly surprised and won't let this consume their spirits and blacken their hearts. And yeah, I'm completely serious. HEAR ME OUT. Granted, at this, every single person has...

As Seth noted earlier, the collapse of former New Jersey Governor and Goldman Sachs co-chairman Jon Corzine’s latest financial venture is the end of his hopes for higher office. But it is more than that. The discovery that $700 million of the money investors put into his MF Global firm is missing is a shocking scandal that highlights liberal hypocrisy as much as it does the excesses of the world of Wall Street high finance. Corzine is not just another high-flying investment ace that was shot down by bad bets — in this case by his firm’s decision to put...

The head of the Republican National Committee is calling on President Barack Obama to return half a million dollars in fundraising Jon Corzine raised on the president's behalf, now that the former one term New Jersey governor's bankrupt brokerage firm is under investigation by the federal authorities. "In light of the FBI Investigation into Jon Corzine's company, President Obama should immediately return the $500,000 that Corzine raised on his behalf," said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, in a statement released Thursday. A government regulator said in court Wednesday that roughly $600 million is missing from the books of bankrupt brokerage MF...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The regulator overseeing the investigation of Jon Corzine's collapsed securities firm, MF Global, gave $10,000 to the New Jersey Democratic Party in 2005 as Corzine ran for governor of that state. Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Corzine had worked together for 18 years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and later collaborated to pass a law to combat corporate fraud. Election records show Gensler gave the money in August 2005. Corzine, a Democrat, was elected governor later that year. MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. Gensler and other regulators are trying...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The lead regulator investigating the collapse of Jon Corzine's securities firm, MF Global, worked alongside him for 18 years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The two later collaborated to pass a law intended to prevent accounting scandals. Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, rose to become Goldman's co-head of finance before leaving in 1997. Corzine left Goldman in 1999, after serving as chairman and CEO. The two later collaborated when Corzine was a senator and Gensler worked on Capitol Hill. As a key staffer for Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., Gensler advised Sarbanes on the...

<p>A major figure in liberal Democrat Jon Corzine’s bankrupt firm, MF Global, used to work for hedge fund operator and Democratic Party financial patron George Soros. MF Global Holdings Ltd., now under FBI investigation, had hired Munir Javeri as Global Head of Trading.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) -- MF Global, Jon Corzine's embattled securities firm, moved millions in missing client funds last week and tried to avoid detection, a regulator said Wednesday. MF apparently made "substantial transfers" of customer money after an on-site audit last week, said the regulator, CME Group Inc. CME is a private company that oversees firms such as MF Global on behalf of federal regulators. It also operates exchanges where MF Global traded investments. The money was moved in a way that "may have been designed to avoid detection," CME said in a statement. MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection Monday...

A government regulator said in court Wednesday that roughly $600 million is missing from the books of bankrupt brokerage MF Global. The firm, headed by former New Jersey governor and Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Monday following a panic from investors over its holdings of risky European debt. "MF Global has discovered a shortfall of segregated accounts of around $600 million," a lawyer with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said, adding that this is a preliminary figure that could increase. This past weekend, executives at MF Global had been scrambling to sell the firm...

Obama campaign may return cash from MF Global's Corzine By Kim Dixon and David Ingram 15 mins ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's re-election campaign would return the donations made by embattled MF Global chief Jon Corzine if he were charged with any wrongdoing, a campaign official said on Wednesday. Corzine, who is at the center of a storm over the securities company's bankruptcy this week, has been a major fundraiser for Obama. The former Goldman Sachs chief has raised or "bundled" donations of at least $500,000 so far for Obama's 2012 re-election effort. Corzine himself has donated the...

Obama Campaign Pledges To Return Corzine's Donations If He Is Charged In MF Global Investigation Zeke Miller Nov. 2, 2011, 6:06 PM An official with President Barack Obama's reelection campaign told Reuters that it would return money from MF Global CEO Jon Corzine if he is brought up on civil or criminal charges. Corzine is a major bundler for Obama, raising over $500,000 for the reelect according to the campaign — and he has maxed out his personal contribution as well. As of yet, no charges have been brought against Corzine or his bankrupt company — though several federal agencies...

WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's re-election campaign would return the donations made by embattled MF Global chief Jon Corzine if he were charged with any wrongdoing, a campaign official said on Wednesday. Corzine, who is at the center of a storm over the securities company's bankruptcy this week, has been a major fundraiser for Obama. The former Goldman Sachs chief has raised or "bundled" donations of at least $500,000 so far for Obama's 2012 re-election effort. Corzine himself has donated the maximum that an individual can give for a presidential campaign, according to campaign finance records. He...

Even as we hear rumblings that the MF fire is spreading, and the associated auditor of the now infamous former Primary Dealer is about to get in serious hot water, the bankrupt company itself continues to dig itself an ever deeper grave. Because according to a just filed motion by the MF Global liquidating trustee, it seems that the gross criminal activity by the company may have been orders of magnitude bigger than anyone has expected. To wit: "As a result of the apparent segregation violations and the suspension of clearing privileges, more than 150,000 customer accounts essentially were frozen...