2nd UPDATE: Corzine: I Told Nobody To Lend MF Global Customer Funds To Affiliates
December 15 2011 - 4:01PM
Dow Jones News
Former MF Global Holdings Ltd. chief Jon Corzine denied Thursday
having any knowledge of improper shifting of customer funds prior
to the hours before the firm's collapse.
His remarks come in response to CME Group Inc. (CME) Executive
Chairman Terrence Duffy, who testified at a separate hearing
Tuesday that Corzine might have known MF Global improperly shifted
customer funds to a European affiliate before its Oct. 31
bankruptcy.
Duffy said a CME auditor learned of the shift of funds, and
Corzine's knowledge of the move, from a senior MF Global executive
during a telephone call before the firm's collapse.
Corzine said he was unaware of the conversation Duffy referred
to, and stressed he was unaware of any improper transfer.
"I did not in any way know about the use of customer funds on
any loan or transfer," he said in testimony before a House
Financial Services panel.
Corzine was making his third appearance on Capitol Hill in the
past week as lawmakers inquire about the causes for the collapse of
the brokerage firm. He said Thursday he didn't learn of the
shortfalls until the evening of Oct. 30.
Corzine suggested a connection between the transfer mentioned by
Duffy and MF Global's attempts to resolve an overdraft with an
account it held with JP Morgan Chase in London. On the morning of
Oct. 28, Corzine said he was trying to sell "billions" of bonds to
JP Morgan to reduce MF Global's balance sheet and generate
liquidity, but JP Morgan said it wouldn't engage in the
transactions until Corzine's firm fixed the overdrafts.
Though Corzine instructed staff to resolve the issue, JP Morgan
called him again on Oct. 28 seeking assurances that the transfer of
funds didn't violate Commodity Futures Trading Commission
rules.
"The back office in Chicago explicitly confirmed to me that the
funds were properly transferred and I understood that JP Morgan
Chase was satisfied," Corzine said.
Shortly after the question-and-answer period began, the panel
took a break so that its members could vote on the House floor.
Corzine was served with a lawsuit shortly after leaving the hearing
room, filed by a customer with two MF Global accounts totaling
about $220 million.
-By Andrew Ackerman, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-569-8390;
andrew.ackerman@dowjones.com
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