UPDATE: MF Global's Corzine Slated To Testify At House Panel Hearing Thursday

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture released a witness list for a Thursday hearing on the downfall of MF Global Holdings Ltd. (MFGLQ), which includes the firm's former chief executive Jon Corzine.

A spokesman for the committee said Corzine would provide written testimony. But she declined to speculate if he would invoke the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination and decline to answer lawmaker questions about the collapse of the firm. Corzine, a former U.S. senator and governor of New Jersey, has yet to appear publicly since his firm's demise.

MF Global collapsed on Oct. 31 after a series of credit downgrades, a surprise quarterly loss and a rapid decline in its stock price left it scrambling to sell itself. An 11th-hour deal for the company fell through after the shortfall in client funds came to light.

Jill Sommers, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission member leading the investigation into as much as $1.2 billion in customer money still missing from MF Global, is also scheduled to appear before the panel, according to the witness list released Tuesday. Lawyer James Kobak will represent court-appointed trustee James Giddens, who is winding down the brokerage.

Terry Duffy, executive chairman of CME Group Inc. (CME) and MF Global's main regulator at the exchange level, is also set to appear. So is Stephen Luparello, vice chairman of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which also oversaw aspects of MF Global's business and last summer asked the firm to set aside more cash to offset its greater risk-taking.

Dan Roth, president and chief executive of the National Futures Association, was asked to appear, alongside William Brodsky, chairman and chief executive of Chicago Board Options Exchange parent CBOE Holdings (CBOE). Representatives of the National Grain and Feed Association and the Commodity Markets Council will also testify, according to the list.

-By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com

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