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A Close Encounter With Jon Corzine
Submitted by Erico Matias Tavares of Sinclair & Co.

A Close Encounter With Jon Corzine
We got caught in the MF Global debacle as a client of their UK subsidiary. Little did we know at the time that our view of the financial markets would change forever - as a result of faulty regulations and, above all, faulty bosses.
* * *
MF Global Goes Bust
Jon Corzine had an illustrious career in investment banking, rising to the very top of Goldman Sachs, until he got pushed out in 1999. He subsequently decided to try his luck in politics, and was eventually elected as a Senator from New Jersey in 2001, then Governor in 2006.
After losing to Chris Christie in 2010, Corzine was promptly hired as the CEO of MF Global. He was back in the game of finance - and with something to prove. While the majority of voters in New Jersey breathed a sigh of relief, the clients of MF Global could not imagine the disaster that would unfold.
And it did not take long. Corzine’s idea was to turn an annuity-like brokerage business into a high flying investment bank (complete, it seems, with its own proprietary trading desk). When the firm’s US$7 billion highly leveraged bet on risky Eurozone bonds turned sour in 2011, MF Global eventually ran out of funds to meet margin calls. What followed was the US$40 billion bankruptcy of a firm that traced its roots all the way back to the 18th century Britain – after just a year and a half under Corzine’s leadership.
According to internal reports, the last days of MF Global in October 2011 were chaotic. Somehow in the scramble to raise money to meet the margin calls, US$1.2 billion of client funds were lost (or “vaporized”, as it was later described). The plight of many clients around the world, including us, was just about to start.
MFGUK Clients
In the UK, it took a few months before we could get a glimpse of what was actually going on. The first client meeting was only held in January 2012. KPMG, the administrator of the UK assets of the firm, informed us that there was a shortfall in client funds and that there was no certainty that it could be covered. At that point you could hear a pin drop across the room.
And it got worse from there. As fate would have it, by default new brokerage accounts in the UK were not segregated from the firm’s pool unless the clients specifically chose so. It turns out not many did. Many people were outraged or in tears when they learned about this, because being segregated or not meant that you were either at the front or at the back of the creditors’ queue, respectively. With segregated funds facing the risk of a write-off, being towards the back was not particularly encouraging, to say the least.
With the help of others we then decided to form MFGUK Clients, an action group intended to help other clients get timely information about the bankruptcy process, provide the contacts of funds which had volunteered to buy client claims and alert the public in general about the risks of having a brokerage account in the UK. Our plight would not be in vain!
In the process we learned a great deal about UK brokerage regulations; and got a glimpse into the world of rehypothecation: basically a prime broker’s ability to use client collateral for its own funding purposes, a practice that while capped in the US is – unbelievably – unlimited in London.
Suddenly, the choice of having funds domiciled in London did not seem all that smart, especially when we looked at what was going on elsewhere.
Benchmarking a Client Debacle
Here we had a major brokerage firm going bust across several jurisdictions concurrently. So we could see how London was faring compared to other jurisdictions in real time. And this only added to our frustration and dismay.
The Canadians got 100% of their money back a few short weeks after the firm went under. The Singaporeans received over 90% soon after. In the US, whence Corzine was orchestrating its financial gambles, clients got 72% back much before yearend, as well as considerable prime time coverage across the financial networks.
And in the UK? The new rules enacted by the Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) to streamline client payout procedures in brokers bankruptcies (particularly after Lehman Brothers UK, another debacle that was still festering in the courts at the time) turned out to be next to useless, and it would be many months before segregated clients got a paltry 26% of total. All others would have to sit back and wait to access financial insurance – which in the UK is limited to GBP 50,000 (~US$80,000) per claim.
Confronted with these events, we put together the following sketch to summarize the general feeling amongst UK clients (getting screwed by a bankster can be a source of inspiration):
However, we soon learned that there was a group faring even worse than us: the Australians. While UK clients got some information and updates on the process, status of the payouts and so forth, for the longest time these guys had no visibility whatsoever. No matter how depressed we felt about the whole thing, they really got the raw end of the deal [and we never found out if they ever got all their money back].
A Close Encounter
Meanwhile, Corzine was nowhere to be found. He had pretty much retreated from public view after his testimony before the US Congress. So we had all these unanswered questions and emotions bottled up for months, with no redress in sight. And that’s when a rather surreal event took place.
Exactly two years ago we decided to visit the Matisse exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Here’s what we wrote to other UK clients later that night:
“Tonight a friend and I decided to go see the Matisse exhibition during the late night session at the Met. We got there late and had to rush in to have enough time to enjoy some of the finest paintings ever produced by Mankind.
As we got closer to the end, I found myself standing next to someone I had never met, but whom nevertheless felt very familiar to me. Then it struck me who he was. I turned to my friend in disbelief. We both took a step back, looked again at the person, then at each other once more. It had to be him. We were standing next to Jon Corzine.
My heart immediately started racing. Suddenly all those repressed sentiments were turning loose, though I could still not entirely believe that the man who caused so much misery to thousands of people around the globe was standing right there. In the flesh. Carefree, enjoying the wonderful art around him guided by his headsets.
I started to think about what to do next. Should I make a huge scene? Or should I just forget about it, now that the administrators indicate that we will get most if not all of our money back? No. I just could not let it slide.
I decided to wait for him at the exit. My friend moved away, not entirely sure about what was about to happen. Then he got out, put down his headsets and looked out into where I was standing. This was my chance.
“Mr. Corzine?”, I calmly asked. “Yes!”, as he immediately reached out for my hand. I said, “I am a client of MF Global. How do you feel about that?”
His eyes turned down as he began muttering some pavlovian remarks. The few things he said that stuck were “I’m sorry”… “I’m being sued”… “there will be losses”… Then he said people are getting their money back. At that point I replied, “My money is in the UK, most of us got nothing back. Many people are struggling.” More remarks followed: “bad regulations in the UK”… “there will be losses”… “I’m being sued”…
That is all I had for him. Did not want to dignify him by displaying any emotions. The courts will not criminally judge him for what he did. But he knows that the anonymous person in the crowd will. Anytime, anywhere.
As surreal as this experience was, I was feeling a strange sense of atonement. In the end we are all human. But some are more human than others.”
Fortunately we managed to prevent all those repressed sentiments from turning rather more aggressive, which would have certainly landed us in jail – the only ones in this whole debacle, it is worth noting.
Post Mortem
Probably someone should write a book about Corzine and MF Global (not us – we’ve had it!). We should all learn from it. How could this happen to a publicly-listed entity closely supervised across all the major financial centers around the world? What has been done to avoid another event like this? Who can investors turn to for redress?
Eventually all UK clients got their money back. Actually, that’s not true. Many small and medium firms who hedged their foreign exchange exposure through MF Global were forced to sell their claims at a big discount so that they could get some money back and remain in operation. For them, investor protection was just a mirage.
KPMG did a decent job in managing the whole process, in light of all the cumbersome new rules and regulations, and at one point even open disputes with their US counterparts to get some money back. The UK investors’ compensation scheme got into the action rather late primarily due to technicalities, but ended up providing a glimmer of hope for clients with smaller accounts.
All in all, we would venture to say that the UK’s reputation as a global financial center got bruised pretty badly, in large part due to its regulations. The FSA proved to be incapable of implementing a process that can repay clients quickly after a broker goes bust. And to our knowledge, the whole issue of rehypothecation and the systemic risks it poses to the financial system still needs to be addressed.
Our Commentary Published on the City AM Newspaper, 12 January 2012
Given that financial markets have short memories perhaps all of this has been already swept under the rug. It should not be. In the grand scheme of things, with all the funky business going on we have to say that we were lucky to get our money back – a full two years after the event. Investors need to be very careful when choosing to invest through a broker in a particular jurisdiction.
Ironically, as we now know, with proper money management (such as not betting the farm) and financial resources in place (such as not dipping into client funds) MF Global’s leveraged bets on sovereign bonds would have worked out. Corzine would have likely been on the front cover of every major financial magazine. Another example of the fickle nature of success in the capital markets.
As for Corzine himself… we can just hope to never have another close (or distant) encounter with him. And that’s pretty much all we have to say about him.
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FREE JON CORZINE!!!!!!
Fuck Jon Corzine
And the rest of his banker buddies too.
“Mr. Corzine?”, I calmly asked. “Yes!”, as he immediately reached out for my hand."
That was your opportunity and you let it slip by, I call it attempted assault & battery you dumbass.
(See second pic)
You're my boy, Blue !!
Why is'nt this piece of shit Corzine in Jail? Perhaps because he is a crony capitalist insider, aka part of the elitist fascist system?
you really need to know WHO was pulling his strings on the margin call......there is the scumbag that's not in the light
Putin? Moochelle? Varifuckyou?
my instant thought upon reading the headline was - 'one of them won't be walking out of that room with a pulse.'
I would take Jon over Jeb for President.
But I would vote for neither one.
That is if I vote at all. I get tired of writing my name in all the time.
True American Hero's by today's standards.
"I would take Jon over Jeb for President."
Obviously you aren't from New Jersey.
You know what? Fuck everyone that thought it was a good idea to invest with this guy. The evidence was there, the bullshit was ripe, if you couldnt see that, you deserve to lose your money. I dont think Corzine should still be free, but ffs what will wake people up already? Hey guess what? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and you shouldnt put your money in it. But hey, wtf do I know, Ive never invested in any of these clowns...
Jon Corzine is currently working as a "bundler" for Hillary and the Democrat party, though you'll never hear about it on the news. Hillary was at a fundraiser with him by her side several months ago in the Hamptons. And what do you think he was doing at that art museum mentioned in the article? Just visiting to look at the pretty paintings?
What possible reason would they have to put him in jail? It's not like he hurt anyone important. And his value to the party is still tremendous. The possibility that he's got dirt on people can't be overlooked, either. Remember, politicians never hated him. Big donors never hated him. They just can't put him in front of a podium to make speeches becuase everyone else does.
Not only will he never see jail, he'll never even see the inside of a court room.
That's because he is the "honorable " Mr Corzine
You lost your money but at least you had the satisfaction of seeing Jon Corzine do the perp walk handcuffed into jail.
Oh wait.....
Yea, but if things get as bad as they indeed may, he likely will hang from a rope one day.
The way I heard it, Corzine's criminal pals at Goldman were stuck with a boatload of rapidly depreciating Greek bonds. He took them off their hands when they couldn't sell them on the open market without driving the price down to 0.
In return he is immune from prosecution, takes home his own share of the loot, and when the scandal blows over will be in line for another nice political job.
And I now consider this absolutely possible, and plausible!
See what taking the ZH red pill does to one...
That is unpossible!
Our leaders would prosecute such criminal infractions.
Fucker is also a bundler for Obomba, at least he was whent hat POS was running last time.
All roads lead to Jamie (dat's why I'm richer than youse) Dimon.
"We have to get the risk up around here." That was Corzine's first public statement after he took over MF Global in 2010. At the time I was still somewhat shell shocked by 2008-2009. I recall thinking who would be dumb enough to keep an account with these guys. Was reminded of something I saw a survivor of a German extermination camp say when he was asked about what he had learned from the experience. He said "If someone says they want to kill you, lpay attention to what they are saying." If they want to kill your money the same advise applies.
"survivor of a German extermination camp"
Something just doesn't sound right with that statement.
Maybe they weren't "extermination" camps to start with....
Don't feed the lie.
Look up Operation Reinhart, and the Sobibor, Treblinka and Belzec camps.
Yeah, the camps were there, no doubt about it. And they were extermination camps. Anyone denying that is deluding themselves. BUT... the fact they targeted jews was understandable, as jews held many positions of high esteem, such as doctors, lawyers, politicians, etc. I'm not making excuses for the Nazis but when your economy is flailing and the people making all the money are a certain religion, I can see the frustration. We talk about the people that are robbing us of our buying power, wealth, etc. all the fucking time on this site. And most of us agree they probably deserve a rope and a lampost. The Nazis basically just carried that out. So it easy to judge them for what they did, which was very extreme, but at the end of the day they just carried out to a larger extent what most of us have been saying for a long time.
"I'm not making excuses for the Nazis but . . ."
. . . but here are some excuses for the Nazis.
JPM?
exactly and because they let Cris Cristie the blimp have the election they made John a billionaire. a imagine how Maddoff feels about being the only big name to be public ally persicutted
He should be in a pound-in-the-ass federal institution.
Terre Haute for Jon!
No doubt and when the writer of this article said it was all "closely supervised ? I was fully reinforced in my belief this is why the world is in such dire straights ? What a fucking joke Corzine is and our current system which is nothing more than a giant criminal enterprise for the elites !
America and obviously UK have grown fat, dumb, lazy, spoiled and cowardly ! Corzine is in hiding for a reason, and I imagine some serious bad asses got hosed in Chicago, in fact I know they did. So enjoy your hiding John, they will get you one day if you don't get cancer first !
The fact that he hasn't been suicided yet tells you a lot - whose money got returned to them in a timely manner was key here.
Good point. You hafta wonder if this guy has any effective personal security if potential situations like bumping into your victims at an art exhibit are this casual.
Had I met up with him in this situation I may have shook his hand and said in a (sarcastic) admiring tone that he was showing great courage being out and about when it was common knowledge there was such a high price on his head. Screw those hitmen, this is art right? Best of luck Sir.
I don't know whether it is due to the peaceful nature of individuals in the world that there has not been a serious attempt on Corzine's life, or that they are a bunch of masochist pussies.
+1 for the handle alone. definitely one of the hottest fiction babes of all time. but I appreciated the comment even more.
Actually this guy just loafs around NYC like nothing matters. If anyone has any sort of a memory he also dragged his sorry ass out in public to shill and bundloe for The Murderer-inChief that occupies The White House back in the 2012 election.
When I read stuff like this it make me wonder. How can Jon? Why isn't Jon? etc etc are what people ask. It's as if they are fucking blind now as they were in the early 2000's when this walking virus got into politics. HOWFUCKING HARD IS IT TO SEE THAT THE GUY WHO HEADED GOLDMAN SACHS IN 1999 (For fucks sake people doe ANYONE remember that bubble?) NOT ALREADY KNOW THAT THE GUY WAS A FUCKING CRIMINAL!
HE WAS THE HEAD OF FUCKING GOLDMAN SACHS!
AND YOU STUPID STAR FUCKER VOTERS IN NJ SENT HIM TO THE SENATE!
AND THEN ELECTED HIM FUCKING GOVERNOR?!?!
Why is it that someone with only a fucking high school degree and exactly NO experience in finance (me) knew this, warned people about this piece of shit, and yet it seems that NO ONE in the industry like say the author who begins her piece telling us about Corzine's "illustrious career in investment banking, rising to the very top" had any fucking idea this guy was a shit?
I repeat. HE RAN THE GOLDMAN SACK. Do you think they only just recently became the criminal entity they are today? Do you think it is only post 2007 that they are connected at the hip with .gov?
Price on this guy's head? Not a chance. He'll be rehabbed and be back in the game. Just watch. And I would bet there is a line of indistry types a mile long ready to suck this guy's cock (figuratively speaking, of course) when he does come back.
I do appreciate the comment Ms. Taggart. But I know fr a fact he goes out WITHOUT any security.
Folow the other money also,
Corzine is/was an 0bama "bundler" also who raised $882,932 for 0bama and various Democrat PACs (The "Contributions" column indicates the total amount the bundler, his/her spouse and dependent children have given to all federal candidates, parties and PACs in all election cycles since 1990.)
https://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/bundlers.php
Corzine, Jon Hoboken NJ MF Global $882,932Corzine being free is horrifying. Look at his track record. What is this f*cker going to do next?
Compare Corzine's treatment by the law to that of methadone patients targeted by NYPD drug cops trying to get them to turn informant.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnknefel/how-police-harassment-at-methadone-cl...
The NYPD plainclothes narcotics officers earn up to $180,000 per year but they have to get 4 drug arrests a month, to show they are on the job. Part of the "broken window" policing strategy pioneered by current police commissioner Bratton. The methadone and $60 cash the police stole from one patient will be used to pay off one of the cop's other informants. Don't expect Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance to do anything about this police drug dealing, Vance is at the apex of the corrupt criminal justice system in New York.
The most disreputable characters in this story are the New York reporters, the world's worst, hack reporters who follow their newspaper and TV stations' propaganda line. The 1977 Marijuana Reform act made it only a violation (like a traffic ticket) to possess less than an ounce of pot, yet Mayor Bloomberg and PC Kelly illegally made such possession a crime and followed throw with some million false pot possession arrests. Targeting minority neighborhoods, to help with gentrification for their real estate interests.
In contrast, Corzine almost walked away scot free from his "vaporization" of MF Global assets. The Wall Streeters who created MF Global from Refco did walk away criminally free, even though they privatized Refco, then launched an IPO of Refco knowing it had some $450 million in hidden liabilities. Refco's former owner, who engineered the fraud, went to prison. His biggest crime was hoodwinking Wall Street insiders.
Wake me up when we can start disposing oligarchs.
Apparently Erico Matias Tavares lost money with MF Global, was close enough to Corzine to deliver the 'forearm shiver', but wrote this nice article about how 'we can all learn a lesson here' instead. Wonders never cease.
Then you'll always be asleep. That is the sad reality. Even with a reset, a new oligarch steps in.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Er, Jon Corzine for president!
RE
"My wallet's gone! My wallet's gone!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tuDwbDMidM
+1000 you had me rolling! Perfect! Had to sign in to tell you!
There is no FSA......Just peeps that have money and those that don't
Holly Shiva's bull, there is FSA, they are everywhere. FSA has taken over the world. Have you read about the one in the UK, who says that they would "rather be fat on benefits than thin and working".
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2909810/We-d-fat-benefits-workin...
Oh, I see; you mean Financial Services Authority. My bad, my bad.
Vaporize Jon Corzine
for anyone not familiar with the "vaporize" reference:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-31/case-against-corzine
"...
Trying to portray Corzine as being focused on mundane things like finding a job rather than worried about doing jail time for his obvious crimes appears to be another prong of Corzine’s attorneys’ use of the Chewbacca Defense, along with saying that the fraud charges “Make No Sense,” because the money “Vaporized”
..."
Vaporize Jon Corzine
Why not? It worked on his son.
Jon Corzine is a crook, doesn't matter whether he's a (D) or an (R). It was absolutely maddening to read, time after time, about the money that just *poof* "went missing." It did no such thing. Mr. Corzine misappropriated segregated customer funds. If it was an ordinary person like me who had access to the company's checkbook, they'd call it embezzlement. Which, in point of fact, it was. Another glaring example of "The Divide" - one set of laws that apply to the rich and powerful, and another for everyone else.
Pity he didn't have a close encounter with a nail gun.
In the article you had someone that suppossedly lost a lot of money and all he did was speak a couple words, but didn't want to make a scene, really? Are you sure this article isn't just propoganda?
hungry, "isn't just propoganda?"..just fall off the turnip truck? of course it is that's why the comments section is what we all read..good test of your intelligence is to see who are trolls - agenda robots - and those who seek to share and learn.
He better not walks pass a DIY shop.
Corzine is a symptom of a very diseased system.
They say crime pays, well large-scale corporate crime always pays...
Take $100 from a 7-11, and go to jail for 10 years.
Edit: redmeat- clickbait
Of course they would never "nail gun" this low life POS!
Nas-car On Sunday.....
Beer.....gotta love this stuff
He should, at the very least, be in the poorhouse. Not jail, just no money. That muthafucker should be struggling.
Of course, you could take all his personal wealth, and that cocksucker would still be receiving pensions from as a Senator and Governor. I bet they amount to around $200,000 a year.
Chump change for this punk.
" If you don't hold it, you don't own it. "
Hard lesson for some to learn. Unless you are an insider or top tiered politican, you are 99% sure to lose out in the paper-pushing market.
Yes that’s true – BUT top tier is not enough - if you play the game – you will sooner or later pay them – it is just the way it works
My standard is now Hank Greenberg (top tier!!!) – AIG – built from scratch with Mr. Starr to the largest casualty company in the world with huge reserves - in 70 years never in a bind financially or serious regulatory investigation.
Myriad of products that were “real” not contrivance like GS or JPM ( phony CDO’s/ CDS / Currency Swaps, etc.) and did a good job for commerce and individuals for 70 years.
He leaves the stage – unwillingly - and therefore the key point for control of the underwriting committee -and GS steals the patrimony via their appointment of CEO and Cassano’s phony trades – enormous goodwill and reserves gone – via GS control of the US Treasury – Hank Paulson / Geithner / Bernake.
If a guy like Greenberg can get it taken from him - no one – no one – is safe – sooner or later they are coming for you merely because you exist and you own something.
George Carlin – The American Dream – “They want it all!”
Jon Corzine is just one example of a bankster thief with all the right connections that will forever keep him out of jail where he should be at the very least. I believe that he should have been hung by the neck until dead, as an example.
This fellow missed a great opprotunity to drive a nice long ice pick right into his solar plexus.
Very slowly like Woods did at Nuremberg.
Close encounter with JPMorgan Chase & Co. who more than double the value of its investment in London Metal Exchange shares from the U.K. unit of bankrupt MF Global Holdings Ltd. JPMorgan is the biggest investor in the LME, with 1.4 million shares ...
Corsine had sharp elbows in the opinion of Owners of your Planet. I would of thought our Cousin over the Pond would of offered that also. It is never and accident in the consumption of fixed Capital. That four percent of the LME Stock was the difference in a proxy fight kids grow up. As we are reminded, how can we see virtue if it can ever be seen. I would convey only when you enter a House you are no different than the owner of that House. It was a political kill switch operation. If you think the color of pill matters you are already in trouble.
why do i think coward? he was just being a human (not corzine the author). but somehow corzine needed him to leave a mark on corzine's body, a blow to the face a broken foot? some of us would trade our freedom for a chance to pluck an eye out of this elite monster..but i am lucky to never meet this man. opportunity lost erico is it < by the way does that name mean ball less?
At a very minimum Some of those Matisse paintings should have been splattered with Corzine blood.
There's an idea. A canvas painted with his bloody face, auctioned off, proceeds to help pay off the losers .
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/08/07/embattled-jon-corzine-to...
He's been popping up as of late. Must be rough chilling in the Hamptons with the Clintons, and going to Matisse exhibits. Rarely does one man symbolize so much of what is wrong with society, but Corzine is it.
Clearly indeed if only he had more time...his "investments" (and MF Global itself) would have been saved.
Perhaps the author should travel to Greece to explain this to the Greeks!
JON CORZINE FOR PRESIDENT OF GREECE!
Here are the Cliff Notes to his "illustrious" career:
One of his clients at Goldman was LTCM. He basically stole their ideas and carried them over to Goldman Sachs, thus screwing his client and ultimately his employer.
As Governor of New Jersey, he carried on an affair with a woman connected to the unions, certainly screwing her and thus screwing the people of New Jersey and his in effect wife.
He was a bundler for Obama (hence, look for Obama to pardon him among other crooks as he leaves office).
He stole billions from his customers' accounts at MF Global, screwing many of them for life.
And he is still on the loose.
Not only should he be in prison, but he should be placed in the population at some place like Attica.
What a piece of shit.
We sure do drone the wrong targets.
You were standing next to Jon Corzine and didn't stick a knife in him?
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?
Oh, you're British, never mind.
The amazing thing about the anecdote is that Corzine hasn't long since gone into hiding for fear of a former client exacting vigilante justice.
Guess he's really that reckless.
perhaps he did not describe the scene fully, like the two 6'2'' security goons standing to corzines right..then i would understand.
They'd deter a chance encounter, sure. A more or less well-planned attack might not be deterred by a couple of rent-a-thugs alone.
Every Financial problem of this country can be traced back to a Goldman Sachs officer
Corzine and MF global
Subprime mortgages being wrapped and sold off to the unknowing..... Paulson
Glass Steagall repeal....Robert Rubin
AIG blow up..... Blankfein
Don't let's forget Long Term Capital Management - the firm which ushered in this new era of unbounded leverage and fraud. I read several books. Goldman had to be in there somewhere. That bastard Merriweather went on to start a few more hedge funds and blow them up as well.
Amaranth is also in there, but was a chump player. The equivalent of Madoff in size.
I read several books [about LTCM]
Did you also read "Inventing Money"?
I find that book underrated in reviews, and even though it feels a bit long-winded in some chapters, every time I read it again the long-winded parts give me new insights. Best example are Nightingale schemes - only on third read did it come to me that all investment schemes that gain continuously above (unmanipulated) GDP growth and do not include extraordinary insights into the firms one invests into, are in effect Nightingales.
Bastard belongs in jail - with Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch - nominee for Holder's AG position.
The man in Kansas City - prosecutor for S&L disaster - name escapes me - informs us that this is 70 times worse. IOW we need 70K bankers in jail. He also warns that there have been few prosecutions because the DOJ is totally out of practice - or bought off and therefore out of practice.
All of a sudden it seems that some Republicans have found they had a pair and are going after Lynch for not prosecuting HSBC. That might have something to do with HSBC currently getting flushed in Europe. Didn't we have something like "delayed prosecution." Say you are sorry - deny any wrong doing - pay a fine - be good for a few days - and we won't throw you in jail.
To the point....all the pusillanimous* Eric Holder had to do was get about 100 mid level managers from MFG, tell them that each would be indicted regardless of their culpability, that they may be able to prove their innocence but only after paying hundreds of thousands if they didn't get enough to convict Corzine.
Extreme to be sure, but given the enormous cost to society from the previous real estate swindles, and the fact that Corzine went out and did the same thing in a different motif and on steroids, an example had to be made. The man is clearly guilty of criminal acts. And even f he wasn't, the benefit to society would vastly overwhelm the cost to its integrity for incorrectly jailing Corzine. (I can't believe I wrote that.)
*pusillanimous - means cowardly. Mark Levin used to describe Obama it in the former's rant in defense of Rudy Gulliani in stating that the our POTUS doesn't love America.
I'll bet my last dollar that the Repukes will cave in and confirm Lynch....who'll turn out to be as incompetent and crooked as Holder.
They will probably cave - it is what Pubs do - but don't bet the farm on it.
Can they be accussed of racism for nixing Lynch after six years of a black AG? I don't think so.
Rand Paul is in the vanguard torching her. I think over HSBC. HSBC is a slam dunk for impeaching Holder. Of course I make your point because the Pubs didn't have the scrods to do it - preferring instead a "contempt" citation. Which is pretty significant. And completely ignored by Holder.
Besides, the Pubs have to do something to throw a sop to the conservative base whom it just completely betrayed on obamaCare and immigration.
Given that there are two or three octogenarian Pub senators stating things like....'if we don't appoint her, then we will continue to have Holder'...your point is rather well taken. Where do they get those idiots. (I used to be a Pub. Now a man w/o country.)
Memo to Octogenarian Senators:
Stop drueling over yourselves, and go impeach Holder if you don't like him.
William Black
Corzine exemplifies a symptom, and a need.
He is a symptom of the system that is nothing more than a cabal of grift.
He, like the rest of them, is in need of a guillotine.
The banksters need to repay us.
Where did the money come from to pay all therse clients back eventually? Those are huge sums and if Corzine lost the money, how the hell was any paid back?
That's one of the reasons this piece makes no sense.
Sadly, 1B in losses only qualifies for the "JV Team" when compared to the Clinton Global Initiave or Obama theft of taxpayer money for for congressional and bureaucratic favors.
Note: Hitlery will win the 2016 election by a landslide. She will amass two billion to spend and threaten the 47% (now 52%) with the removal or reduction of social aid benefits. Perhaps even the guarantee of ObamaCare survival (another 11 million Americans accepting wealth distribution).
Jamie Dimon owns Corzine's soul.
Jon Corzine class of 1999
1999 Bilderberg Meeting - 3-6th June, Sintra, Portugal
Notable alumni
Christopher J. Dodd Senator (Democrat, Connecticut)
Stanley Fischer First Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Chuck Hagel Senator (Republican, Nebraska)
Richard C. Holbrooke Ambassador to the UN designate
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. Senior Partner, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP (Attorneys-at-Law)
Robert B. Shapiro Chairman and CEO, Monsanto Company
Steven Rattner Deputy Chief Executive, Lazard Freres & Co. Agreed to pay a $6M fine and a two-year ban from the securities industry in 2010, without admitting guilt, for his involvement with a pay-to-play scheme surrounding New York state's public pension fund.
That fucker stole my money. I was lucky to retrieve 72% and have been waiting on the remaining 18% for years. How the fuck MF turned out to be a legally sanctioned PONZI scheme makes no sense to me. I have no faith in our financial system. MF global was the largest futures company in the world. I seriously believe all of the hedge funds will be found to be Ponzi schemes too.
Um. You are still owed 28%....
18%, 28% LOL I really don't anticipate seeing another penny.
I have a personal dislike of JC .I live in the state where he was once govenor .He destroyed the state with his "painful choices" of raising taxes on everything and anything .My own property taxes went from mid teens to mid twenty's in his four years .He disliked any towns that people moved to get away from the urban districts and it's people .He devised his afordable income housing that made taxes skyrocket all the while lowering urban cities taxes ,which was where he had his penthouse (Hoboken) .He was as corrupt as any politician could be ,it seems NJ is a breeding for them .he dated the head of the municipal workers union and he paid dearly for that (Karla Katz) misdeed as well MF global fiasco never surprised me I just want to see this guy in a orange jump suit ,he is morally bankrupt at every level ....http://dailybail.com/home/we-havent-forgotten-you-jon-corzine.html
i suggest anyone who read this heed these lessons explicitly.
at the time of financial crisis, be among the first to RESCIND your margin agreement with your brokerage firm if you have one. keep a trading account that requires margin at a different firm with limited funding. "physical" is not just important for gold - personal possession of stock certificates, "name safekeeping," cash account holdings, and then margin account are safest to least, tho i exited 9 yrs ago and no longer know for sure what's permitted. split your assets up among conservative firms as well. don't forget about large balances in money market funds, which can now "break the buck" and install distribution "gates" during liquidity emergencies.
Hey! Erico Matias Tavares, why didn't you whip out your dick and piss on Corzine's shoes? You could've started a trend.
You didn't shake his hand, did you?
Not so, the author, standing next to Corzine claims to have gotten ALL their money back, so I don't understand his beef at all.
Or why he wrote this piece. What's the point??
Seems that he's tilting at windmills to think a connected former Senator, former Governor, and Financial whiz kid with likely hundreds of multimillionaires he has made all over the power grid--- politicians, judges, and attorneys General, yes, you can be sure attorneys general, have been well paid off to stay away from even looking under the skirts of this crook.
And what's with this late stab at him??? There are so many more who have affected billions of people not just a few MF Global clients, that have been splashing around in the lap of luxury with their bound feet mistresses all over the world since 2008.
This too will just fall into the abyss of complaints about Cassano, Blankfein, Raneiri, Greenberg, Madoff, Paulson, Geithner, Orszag (remember him?? Didn't think so.) Kashkari (remember him, didn't think so) Little Dick Fuld and dozens of others who let Lehman go, Bear Stearns merge, Merriill Lynch's boss, John Thain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thain), Steve Scharzmann, and other mostly Jewish shyster/crooks whose connections paid them back all their own losses with newly minted Treasury funds, courtesy of Bernanke, Geithner, Hank Paulson, AND continual bonuses throughout the last 7 years.
The immensity of the what has been done to save mostly a few Jews and keep them in the land of Plenty I(Summers, Rubin, Greenspan) after dismal utter failure has to be the bigggest ripoff ever perpetrated in the entire scheme of financial schenanigans. EVER.
It makes one wish the Holocaust had included some that managed reproduce, and should never have been permitted to.
Indeed, when you consider the endless trail of devastation left by Greenspan, Summers, Rubin and dozens of others of their ilk it boggles the mind to think they have not only avoided jail but actually prospered.
Well, looks like we Corzined some folks
"Jon Corzine had an infamous career as a crooked politician and rip-off investments man."
I like my lead better!
God bless Zerohedge for coining the verb "Corzine". It's an instant and everlasting hit. Fuck off, Jon, you piece of shit...
I started to think about what to do next. Should I make a huge scene? Or should I just forget about it, now that the administrators indicate that we will get most if not all of our money back? No. I just could not let it slide.
Imagine if you had the guts to put your hands around his neck by stealth and were trained in the martial arts to snap "it" in a split second?... Now take this moment and multiply it X 200,000,000?!!!
No fraudulent bankers, no legislators and NO military attempting to start the war that will end all wars because of those bad bettors with their accumulated debts evading justice!!!
The man is still free.
He isn't in jail, hasn't been arrested, and lives well.
The worst part is no one has had the guts to kill that son-of-a-bitch.
I got 100% back of $10,000 but it took well over a year. It came in dribs and drabs. Nice to see a picture of what he looks like. Never put your money in anything to do with the UK. They make him look like a shoplifter.
One day the sheeple will rise up and handle these problem people, guees they haven't been pushed on hard enough yet ?
Corzine has pillaged for decades with impunity. He and his Goldman Sachs cronies PLUNDERED New Jersey's pension fund, unemployment & disability funds, caused massive capital flight, and instituted confiscatory taxation. He attempted to sell the state's Parkway, Turnpike, and highways to Goldman Sachs. When people opposed to the plan spoke out in the "Town Hall" meetings that he held, they were promptly arrested. Yet the Marxist fools in NJ will manically defend him until this day.
If you knew his history as a Politician and choose to invest in MF global you should not be surprised that you got fleeced. I don't know that individual investors in the US ever recovered their money. To my knowledge only the banks and hedge funds did.
I would not be surprised if Obama creates some position in Washington for Corzine, providing him the opportunity to pillage, plunder and burn some more. John Corzine will continue to loot whenever and whatever he can until he is either killed or thrown in prison.
I love ZH! 20 years ago I ran into a former Salomn Brothers partner that was dumb as a sack of rocks, but an arrogent and cocky BSD. He played a big part in the years of mismangement that forced Salomon to merge with the even dumber Citigroup. I made a big public stink and played with him like a cat plays a mouse. It was too easy, but the humiliation follows him around like a bad stink. I have told the story over and over and look forward to running into him again (it's a small world after all) and messing with him. There is nothing like messing with these ass clowns, because you have no downside and they have no upside. It's the perfect humiliation trade! It's best to do it in front of their family and friends for maximum effect. Since I have experience in humiliating these clowns, my advice is to exceed the limits of polite society. Call their wives and daughters whores, and you will see what cowards they are stripped of the fake institutional protection they so freely abused. Corzine and his type have lost the social right to be treated with even the smallest human courtesy.
You nailed it ! ............
Corzine's wife is a whore? Really?
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Right. Fucking. On.
See above.
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V-V
The poor man, i'm sure the Feds are closing in on him as i type . . .
And to our knowledge, the whole issue of rehypothecation and the systemic risks it poses to the [UK’s] financial system still needs to be addressed.
Even in diplomatic language, that is the understatement of the decade.
Closer to the truth would be:
Anybody still doing larger scale financial business domiciled in the UK needs to have his head examined.
Not really, anyone doing it deserves to lose every cent.
Refer to the late Steve Irwin for what perfect justice looks like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnSegu4A5Uc
Corzine didn't get out of an indictment because he's a democrat. The evidence against him was far too much for that. Corzine got out of an indictment because he aggressively bundled campaign donations for Obama. That's the best get out of jail free card available in the US today.
How can someone write a story like this and not tell us how much his firm had at risk!???????
Duh!
Tuco
This is an ongoing problem in the system. Corporations with limited liability, and I assume that corzine's wealth was not touched, unlike his victims.
The UK abandoned manufacturing things to manufacturing financial scams.
The FSA is a joke and you can tell by all the SHIT SCAMS that they overlooked, like LIBOR and FX.
Notice how none of the inept(s) involved were fired or prosecuted?
I too have had the opportunity to bump into the people who defrauded me and forced me into bankruptcy. The arm chair pundits find it easy to pontificate. When revenge was at hand, my son realized what was happening. He stopped me cold in my tracks by stepping in front of me and looking me straight in my eyes. “Pop, don’t ruin my life.” he said. With that, I took a step back and I stood down. You know what; the sun came up the next day. I have money in my pocket and I have two beautiful granddaughters. Life is good. Piss on the assholes. They know that I know what they are.
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See above.
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V-V
It would be best if his head just blew up, like in scanners
Maybe we're being unfair.
Corzine's Golden Sacks pal Gollum Gensler, head of the CFTC, didn't think ol' Jon did anything wrong.
He's had plenty of experience as a professional thief. He's been a senator, a governor, and a crony-financial firm executive. Next step would be a presidential run -- CORZINE 2016.
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I am the bearer of bad news for you and your philosophy.
You’re all talk.
I met a lot of you. It’s okay. But don’t think you didn’t do anything, but give the asshole another chance to do it to another unsuspecting soul like yourself.
We’d all like to be those guys who even the score. No, you don’t.
It’s a lonely life.
Most of you don’t have the guts. And that’s okay. It’s called being a human being. We’re weak. That’s whey these assholes continue.
Because once you start down that path, you start seeing the assholes everywhere.
And frankly, people get a little a scared of you, because they know you aren’t going to take any shit, from anyone. No bygones, no nothings.
And people are always pulling scams on people. At work. Your neighbours.
They know you can be trusted, not to drink the kool-aid and that makes you dangerous.
I clean up the dog-shit in the world. I scrap it off the sidewalk, so people like you don’t step in by accident. People like my mother.
I’ve come to enjoy my ‘job’ as I call now.
I live to fight. I love it.
I love just sitting there, minding my own business, when somebody comes along and tries to strong-arm, steal from me, or what have you, when I’ve done nothing but be straight up and honest.
OH! Are you in some fucking trouble then!
It’s truly amazing how many fucking people are such thieving, nasty sonsovbitching psychopaths.
I don’t always get’em.
But the chilling line is not, “I’ll get you!!”
But rather…
“I’ll get you IF I can.”
That’s an asshole you don’t want to fuck with.
I take’em to court. I beat them up, when I can, badly. (The courts frown on that, taking the law into your own hands, because now you’re pissing on their leg.) I publicize them. I humiliate them. And well… They get taken care of, one way or another. I’ve been doing since I’ve been in my early 20’s. I do it for strangers now, too.
Got a nasty neighbour? Beautiful! No connections.
I’ve lost an awful lot because of these cocksuckers. An awful lot. Not just money or assets.
You should go around to those people who fucked you, and do a number on them. A number that adds up to you.
That way…
You know, they know, you know.
And they know, you know, they know.
Don’t turn the other cheek. It just gets slapped.
Corzine is sitting back, enjoying his millions. You should have at least kicked the living fucking shit out of him. It’d made headlines around the world. You’d a been a hero.
But instead, you pulled that Christian crap. Well at least the cowardice routine and called it the decent thing to do. It wasn’t.
Always wondered, too, why nobody who got fucked out of their retirement by the Enron boys, didn’t just walk up and air a few of them, out.
Can you imagine the fucking sheer terror that would go through Wallstreet , the 1% and the corporate world, if a bunch of 75+ year old men, just said, “Fuck it!” and went all Clint/Gran Torino on them?
Cowardice. Comes wrapped in all sorts of fancy garb.
I’m always surprised when I find an asshole, that once I start digging, and I know this, this ain’t their first merry-go-round.
But it’s their last.
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V-V
There's an old book, published in 1904, titled "The Cost of Something For Nothing."
Corzine's son is dead. Madoff's two sons are dead.
Ouch!!! The high cost of something for nothing.
Just remember that Corzine helped the Obama admin write up it's 'bank holiday' policies when they first took office. That should give us an idea of what lies ahead.
https://www.google.com/search?q=wall+street+theives&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#sa...
my shock is not that wall street and such are a bunch of back door bandidos.
this has been well covered over the years. and I mean that Literally.
a quick search on google will bring many many books and articles on the subject.
front running, churning accounts, etc and etc. anyone who does not understand that wall street is merely a machine to transfer your wealth is, at this point in time, a drooling idiot.
what surprises me even to this day is that no one walked up to corzine and put a bullet in his head.
I, of course, do not advocate such a solution to anyone who lost their life savings. because the rule of law works so well in the US and that all are equal before the law. and justice is blind. again, it seem, literally.
still, that Corzine (or even a low level scum bucket like jordan belfort) is still walking around amazes the jolly jack sh!t out of me.