Anyway it was funny....
But it got Rush off track...Rush was commenting on Corzine's new hairdo and presumably would have talked a bit more about Corizine, but didn't.
So I share the article that the website referenced:
From the Washington Post: Corzine says he could have been misunderstood on transfer of MF Global accounts
By David S. Hilzenrath, Updated: Thursday, December 8, 2:40 PM
Jon S. Corzine, the former U.S. senator and governor who presided over the collapse of the commodities brokerage MF Global, told lawmakers Thursday that he never intended to authorize a transfer of customer funds to the firm’s accounts and that if he did “it was a misunderstanding.”
Under pointed questioning by members of the House Committee on Agriculture, the New Jersey Democrat would not rule out the possibility that someone at the firm misinterpreted him as suggesting that the struggling firm tap into investors’ funds.
MF Global sought bankruptcy protection on Halloween after an effort to sell the troubled firm unraveled. The firm is now in liquidation.
In his prepared testimony submitted before the hearing, Corzine said he could not explain what happened to “many hundreds of millions of dollars” that the firm was holding for customers. He said 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,” Corzine said, according to the testimony.
The firm was required to keep clients’ money separated from its own. But more than $1.2 billion might be missing, the trustee overseeing the firm’s liquidation said last month. An attorney for the trustee confirms that assessment in testimony submitted for for hearing.
The FBI, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and other authorities are investigating and trying to determine what happened to the missing funds.
Meanwhile, the firm’s collapse has become a major disruption for customers and others who depended on MF Global.
The Republican-led House Agriculture Committee, whose jurisdiction includes agricultural commodities and one of the federal agencies that regulates MF Global, subpoenaed Corzine to testify on the firm’s bankruptcy. The committee turned down Corzine’s request to testify voluntarily in January, he said.
Corzine began his testimony Thursday with an apology, saying that he was “devastated by the enormous impact” the firm’s bankruptcy has had on many people’s lives.
“As the chief executive officer of MF Global at the time of its bankruptcy, I truly apologize to all those affected,” he told the House members.
Questioned first by committee chairman Frank D. Lucas (R-Okla.), Corzine — wearing a gray suit, white shirt and dark tie and flanked by his lawyer — gave some strained and cautious answers.
Asked why there was a shortfall in customer funds, Corzine said that “many transactions… occurred in those last chaotic days.” He said he was not aware of all of those transactions and that “as a consequence it would be very hard for me to speculate why or where that shortfall took place.”
Asked if he authorized a transfer of customer funds, Corzine responded, “I never intended to break any rules, whether it dealt with the segregation rules or any of the other rules that are applicable.”
When Lucas asked if Corzine was aware of any transfers, authorized or unauthorized, out of customer accounts, Corzine said, “I’m not in a position, given the number of transactions, to know anything specifically about the movement of any specific funds.”
“And I will repeat, I certainly would never intend to direct or have segregated funds moved,” Corzine added.
Corzine said that the “first that I heard of the many millions, hundreds of millions, missing, was on Sunday night,” apparently referring to the hours before the bankruptcy filing.
Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Tex.) later pressed Corzine to clarify his statement that he never intended to authorize a transfer of customer funds.
If he did, “it was a misunderstanding,” Corzine said.
In response to a similar question later, Corzine said, “There is never any directed intent to commingle those funds.”
“So, in other words, you could have,” said Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.).
Asked to describe a situation in which his intent could have been misconstrued, Corzine said, “Someone could misinterpret, ‘We’ve got to fix this’ — which I said the evening of Oct. 30 – ‘We’ve got to find the money.’”
In his prepared statement, Corzine said that many people in his situation would invoke their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. However, as a former senator, he said, he recognizes the importance of congressional oversight and believes “it is appropriate that I attempt to respond to your inquiries.”
Though anything he said could be used against him, Corzine hedged his testimony by saying he had too little time to prepare for the hearing and only limited access to records “essential to my being able to testify accurately.”
In his prepared remarks, Corzine told lawmakers, “I sincerely apologize, both personally and on behalf of the company, to our customers, our employees and our investors, who are bearing the brunt of the impact of the firm’s bankruptcy.”
CFTC Commissioner Jill E. Sommers said in a statement Thursday that her agency still “has a great deal of work ahead of it to get customer funds back where they need to be, to determine what went wrong with segregated funds at MF Global, to determine whether to prosecute any violations ... and to determine what needs to be done to prevent a similar circumstance in the future.”
Another witness slated to testify Thursday, CME Group Executive Chairman Terrence A. Duffy, shed more light on the missing money in his prepared testimony. CME Group runs markets for derivatives, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and oversees MF Global.
Duffy said his group’s auditors found no sign that customer funds were missing as of Oct. 26. CME Group auditors returned to MF Global on Oct. 30, because it learned from the CFTC that a draft accounting report at MF Global showed a $900 million shortfall in customer funds caused by an “accounting error,” Duffy said.
The auditors found no accounting error.
Instead, about 2 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 31, MF Global informed the CFTC and CME “that customer money had been transferred out of segregation to firm accounts,” Duffy said.
“Transfers of customer funds for the benefit of the firm constitute serious violations of our rules” and of federal law, Duffy said.
James Kobak, attorney for the trustee, said MF Global’s records are a mess, mainly from the last week or two of intense trading before the bankruptcy filing.
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