Thread: Corzine just got Corzined - Congressional Panel - perjury, felony embezzlement

Corzine Corzined - Congressional Panel Finds Former MF Global CEO Ordered JPM Fund Transfer



Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/23/2012 16:13 -0400

Then only thing that could top today's epic market insanity and hilarity, would be that Corzine is himself about to be Corzined. And just released from Bloomberg:

• MF GLOBAL'S CORZINE ORDERED FUNDS MOVED TO JPMORGAN, MEMO SAYS
• CORZINE'S `DIRECT INSTRUCTIONS' CITED BY CONGRESSIONAL PANEL
• MF GLOBAL TRANSFER WAS USED TO COVER OVERDRAFT, PANEL SAYS
• MF GLOBAL FINDINGS CITED IN MEMO OBTAINED BY BLOOMBERG NEWS

And so we can now add perjury to felony embezzlement. Which means we now have to wait to find just which MF'er (and JPM'er) will be given a promise of untold millions if they only get Fab Tourre'd for a few years, and spend 5-7 in minimum security state prison instead of brave Jonny.

Video at the Page Link




From Bloomberg:

Jon S. Corzine, MF Global Holding Ltd.’s chief executive officer, gave “direct instructions” to transfer $200 million from a customer fund account to meet an overdraft in one of the brokerage’s JPMorgan Chase & Co.
accounts in London, according to an e-mail sent by a firm executive.

Edith O’Brien, a treasurer for the firm, said in an e-mail sent the afternoon of Oct. 28, three days before the company collapsed, that the transfer of the funds was “Per JC’s direct instructions,” according to a copy of a memo drafted by congressional investigators and obtained by Bloomberg News.

O’Brien’s internal e-mail came as the New York-based broker found intraday credit lines limited by JPMorgan, the firm’s clearing bank as well as one of its custodian banks for segregated customer funds, according to the memo, which was prepared for a March 28 House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on the firm’s collapse. O’Brien is scheduled to testify after being subpoenaed this week.

“Over the course of that week, MF Global’s financial position deteriorated, but the firm represented to its regulators and self-regulatory organizations that its customers’segregated funds were safe,” said the memo, written by Financial Services Committee staff and sent to lawmakers.

Vinay Mahajan, global treasurer of MF Global Holdings, wrote an e-mail on Oct. 28 that said JPMorgan was “holding up vital business in the U.S. as a result” of the overdrawn account, which had to be “fully funded ASAP,” according to the memo.

O’Brien Letter

Barry Zubrow, JPMorgan’s chief risk officer, called Corzine to seek assurances that the funds belonged to MF Global and not customers. JPMorgan drafted a letter to be signed by O’Brien to ensure that MF Global was complying with rules requiring customers’ collateral to be segregated. The letter was never returned to JPMorgan, the memo said.

The money transferred came from a segregated customer account, according to congressional investigators. Segregated accounts can include customer money and excess company funds.

Corzine testified that he never intended a misuse of customer funds at MF Global, and that he doesn’t know where client funds went.

“I did not instruct anyone to lend customer funds to anyone,” Corzine told lawmakers in December.

Steven Goldberg, a spokesman for Corzine, declined immediate comment.
Oops. Of course, in Jonny's defense there was no perjury here. The truth was merely rehypothecated.

Corzine Corzined - Congressional Panel Finds Former MF Global CEO Ordered JPM Fund Transfer | ZeroHedge

Mar 21, 2012
Follow us @
http://twitter.com/laurenlyster
http://twitter.com/coveringdelta

Welcome to Capital Account. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas says Dodd-Frank did not end too big to fail, and says we must downsize the TBTF monsters in the view of Richard Fisher. This, as some US lawmakers are working to push back the timeline for a key part of Dodd-Frank, the Volcker Rule...a rule regulators and banks already appear to be hollowing out. We'll look at what the costs of these actions could be

Meanwhile, the "Corzine Rule" is reportedly gaining momentum -- this would restrict what brokerage firms can do with customer money. Before looking forward -- what about the unanswered questions and accountability in the MF Global bankruptcy and what we consider theft of customer money? We'll talk to William K. Black, the former regulator who oversaw prosecutions of bankers for fraud during the S&L crisis to find out what it would take to see justice in this case. We will discuss some of the peculiarities surrounding the MF Global bankruptcy, the decision by CFTC chairman Gary Gensler to proceed with a Chapter 11 bankruptcy as per the SEC, with a SIPA/SIPC liquidation for the brokerage unit, which put the customers on even footing with the creditors, instead of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy for the entire company. We ask Bill Black if this is an example of control fraud and regulatory capture, and where a crime has been committed here.

Meanwhile, do you think we have enough lawyers in the US already? Well, you may be happy to hear this...the organization behind the law school admissions test -- the LSATS -- saw the largest decline in people taking the test in more than a decade. Is "the law" in a bear market? Demetri think so. He says the bear market in the legal system is the corollary for the bull market in whistle blowing. Otherwise, you wouldn't need monetary incentives beyond what is already in place to get lawyers to prosecute crimes. Whistle blowers make it easy for the prosecution.

Corzine is Going to be the Best Show Since Watergate



Submitted by ilene on 03/24/2012 21:59 -0400

Corzine is Going to be the Best Show Since Watergate

Courtesy of Russ Winter of Winter Watch at Wall Street Examiner
Finally after five months of investigations comes the Jon Corzine MF Global bombshell Friday [Bloomberg: Corzine Ordered Funds Moved to JP Morgan]. The Bloomberg article references an e-mail written by Edith O’Brien, the assistant Treasurer at MF Global and a memo written by congressional staffers. A few aspects are of note: first that Corzine “gave direct instructions” to transfer $200 million in segregated consumer funds to JP Morgan for payment on an overdraft and used a lower level functionary O’Brien to carry it out. Then in a clear violation of fiduciary responsibility JP Morgan’s risk officer asked MF Global for a letter stating these funds were not customer segregated accounts, but then took the money anyway. The chief counsel for MF Global nixed the letter JPM sent over as “too strong”.

O”Brien is to testify before Congress on Wednesday, but will plead the Fifth. This suggests she has not been offered a deal, or immunity.

The captured regulatory agencies have not weighed in on this now nearly five months after this historic crime. On the overall issue of fraud and regulatory capture, view this Max Keiser and Mark Melin clip.

The Corzine ties into the labyrinth of the Obama Administration are dark and deep. It is a virtual 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon sistema (the word used for this form of government in Brazil) and in every sense of the word a criminal enterprise. Here are various clips of Obama and Biden heaping praise on Jon Corzine.

This is what Obama says about Jon Corzine. I can see why Obama likes him so much. They both have the same moral compass.

“Like many of us in public life today, Jon is a leader who’s been called to govern in some extraordinary times. He’s been tested by the worst recession in half a century — a recession that was caused by years of recklessness and irresponsibility and a do-nothing attitude. It was caused by the same small thinking that has plagued our politics for decades — the kind of thinking that says we can afford to just tinker around with our problems, we can put off the tough decisions, defer the big challenges. We can just tell people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. Well that’s not the kind of leader that Jon Corzine is.”– Barack Obama, July 2009
.
-and “John Corzine is the smartest man in the room”….Joe Biden

It is hard for me to imagine that Obama can shuck and jive this one. Is he really going to revert to his shameful 60 minutes interview where he makes excuses for criminal conduct on Wall Street and twists the logic around to make himself look righteous. I have to think he may just turn the dogs loose on Corzine, but where does that lead? Corzine was more than a fund bundler, crony, and influence peddler. He was instrumental in stacking the Obama administration with his associates. What happens with CFTC apparatchik and former Corzine employee at Goldman Sachs, Gary Gensler for example? CFTC was charged with regulating MF Global. What about Eric “Empty Suit” Holder, Obama’s attorney general, who never met a Wall Street crime he didn’t like? And what about JP Morgan’s role in this? This should and might be the biggest story since Watergate. My favorite from the wag comment gallery: “Can we possibly take down Corzine, JP Morgan, and Obama all in one fell swoop? No way my life gets that good!!! No way.”

This will also be the supreme test of the two-tiered Justice system in this country. I am certain that Corzine will claim:

1. There was only an alleged call, no email from Corzine?
2. No form returned to JPMorgan?
3. Did JPM allow the transfer illegally?
4. And “Segregated accounts can include customer money and excess company funds.” So if he did want the money transfered did someone mess up and not transfer just company funds?
Still
1) Ignorance of the law is not a valid defense.
2) The violation of fiduciary duty could result in civil liability, even if Corzine is not criminally liable.




For additional analysis on many topics, including trading ideas, subscribe to Russ Winter’s Actionable – risk free for 30 days. Click here for more information.

Corzine is Going to be the Best Show Since Watergate | ZeroHedge