EW YORK (MarketWatch) — Jon Corzine is sad. He’s also no longer the chief executive of MF Global, for whatever its worth. He won’t be seeking severance from the bankrupt trading firm. “I feel great sadness for what has transpired at MF Global MFGLQ -15.47% and the impact it has had on the firm’s clients, employees and many others,” he said in a statement announcing his resignation.
Everyone feel a little better? Didn’t think so.
Corzine’s botched tenure at the company demands more than “sad” feelings. Client money is still missing. Warnings about the firm’s leverage or risk were ignored or fought. Corzine’s positive statements about MF Global's solvency should merit scrutiny from regulators.
In the aftermath, Corzine is being used by conservatives to sully President Barack Obama who supported the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive when he served as New Jersey governor. Everyone, it seems, is getting tainted by Corzine and the mess he made on Wall Street.
That’s why Corzine needs to not only express sadness, but regret. He needs to own up to strategic mistakes. He needs to explain himself and take the fall. Corzine did at least say he would assist in MF Global’s bankruptcy process. But employees and investors shouldn’t give him too much credit. The CEOs who don’t help clean up? That would be the likes of Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford.
Corzine could go a step further and turn all of the money he made during his stint at MF Global — including $14.25 million last year — over to bankruptcy trustees. He’s rich enough from his Goldman days that it probably wouldn’t knock him out of the “1%.”
But if Friday’s resignation is any indication, Corzine won’t even consider it. Why would he? He didn’t consider the mounting evidence that MF Global was going up in flames.
— David Weidner
Poster Comment:
Perp walk?
