Jon S. Corzine

	Website Mercari

Jon S. Corzine is the former chairman and chief executive officer of MF Global Holdings Ltd. He resigned on Nov. 4, 2011^[1] Corzine was appointed on March 23, 2010, succeeding Bernard W. Dan as CEO and Alison Carnwath as chairman.^[2] MF Global also said Corzine was being appointed an operating partner at private equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co LLC, founded by former Goldman Sachs banker Christopher Flowers.^[3]

In June 2010, while speaking at an industry conference, Corzine warned that U.S. regulators may diverge in applying the raft of new financial legislation working its way through Congress. He said he was concerned that individual regulators could write rules that were either softer or more stringent than the legislation intended.^[4]

Corzine also served as a John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.^[5]

Background

MF Global filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection on Oct. 31, 2011.^[6] Corzine resigned four days later.^[7] The MF Global Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing came after talks to sell a variety of assets to Interactive Brokers Group Inc. broke down. There were also signs that some of MF Global's customer accounts that were supposed to be segregated and protected from the rest of the business had suffered what regulators described as "possible deficiencies."

On Dec. 13, 2011, CME Group executive chairman Terry Duffy said he had learned from an auditor with the CME Group that Corzine may have known about a loan to one of the firm's European affiliates made using customer funds. Duffy said he learned about the disclosure over the weekend and that the loan was for roughly $175 million. Duffy said the CME Group had provided this information to the Justice Department. He declined to name the MF Global executive who said Corzine was aware of the breach.^[8]

Corzine is a former governor of New Jersey. He lost a re-election bid to Christopher J. Christie on Nov. 3, 2009. Reports indicated he spent more than $100 million of his own money to become a senator and then the governor of New Jersey.^{[9] [10]}

A former bond trader, Corzine rose to become chairman of Goldman Sachs.^[11] He played a key role in helping the bank become publicly traded in 1999.

Corzine's career in finance began in 1970 at Continental Illinois National Bank in Chicago. He left the position in 1999 and ran for the Senate the following year.^[12]

Corzine grew up on a farm in Illinois, the son of a grain farmer and a teacher.^[13] Following the bankruptcy filing by MF Global, Corzine's history of significant risk-taking was put in the spotlight, dating back to his start on Wall Street.^[14]

Education

Corzine graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a B.A. in 1969. He received an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1973.^[15]

References

1. ↑ Corzine Resigns From MF Global Days After Bankruptcy Filing. BusinessWeek.
2. ↑ MF Global Appoints Jon S. Corzine Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Enhanced Online News.
3. ↑ MF Global Lures Ex-Governor Corzine to CEO Post. Reuters.
4. ↑ MF's Corzine Warns On Potential Regulatory Splits. Fox Business.
5. ↑ Former Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Princeton visiting professor. Princeton.
6. ↑ MF Global Holdings files Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Reuters.
7. ↑ Corzine Resigns From MF Global Days After Bankruptcy Filing. BusinessWeek.
8. ↑ MF's Corzine may have known of customer loan: CME. MarketWatch.
9. ↑ Why He Matters. The New York Times.
10. ↑ Jon S. Corzine. The New York Times.
11. ↑ Corzine’s Wall Street Résumé Loses Value for Voters. The New York Times.
12. ↑ Jon S. Corzine. The New York Times.
13. ↑ ‘Trained to deal with adversity’. Financial Times.
14. ↑ Corzine and risk have always gone hand in hand. WSJ.
15. ↑ Jon Corzine. LinkedIn.