Could Explosive MF Global Email Sink Corzine’s Legal Position?

Former Governor Jon Corzine’s legal position may’ve taken a turn for the worse yesterday, Save Jerseyans, following the release of an explosive memorandum from the House of Representatives subcommittee investigating MF Global’s untimely demise.

Who didn’t see this coming? Time after time, we’ve seen how reckless Jon Corzine can be with other people’s money in the public sector. What’s to say he didn’t continue this irresponsible behavior upon returning to the private sector? Now we have a distressing but not-so-shocking update on the MF Global scandal from the NY Daily News which, if true, could prove to be a “smoking gun” in this incredibly sad case:

Former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine may have been caught telling lies to Congress about the collapse of his international brokerage house, MF Global.

A potentially damning email from an MF Global executive dug up by congressional investigators and released Friday says Corzine ordered that $200 million be transferred out of a customer’s account — violating protocols — days before the firm went belly up.

In the email, sent last Oct. 28, former MF Global assistant treasurer Edith O’Brien says Corzine directed the funds to be moved overseas to cover a shortfall in a company account with JP Morgan in London. It noted the transfer was made “per JC’s direct instructions.”

If true, that would contradict the embattled ex-pol’s earlier statements to a House Financial Services subcommittee that he “never gave any instruction to anyone at MF Global to misuse customer funds.”

Client accounts, by law, are required to be kept separate from a firm’s funds to protect investors in the event the company fails.

It’s important to remember how Corzine specifically told Congress that he didn’t recall directing anyone to misuse customer funds and, that even if something untoward had taken place, it could’ve been the product of a “misunderstanding.” Hmm. Moreover, as this video of his congressional testimony makes plain, he also told the House Financial Services Subcommittee that he had no idea where the missing money ($1.2 billion) ultimately disappeared to:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3ORm_3q-4s

So here’s the $1.2 billion question, Save Jerseyans: did Jon Corzine tell Congress the whole truth? Or, as HotAir.com and numerous other outlets are asking this morning, did the former governor potentially expose himself to additional charges on top of his other MF Global-related legal woes?

I’d note right off the bat that “perjury” is a very difficult charge to prove and unlikely to be the fed’s strongest case. We’ve all seen Godfather II and the Barry Bonds case, right? Federal prosecutors would have to show Corzine knowingly lied about a material matter. This matter is almost definitely material (i.e. whether MF Global and Corzine broke the law); whether Corzine knowingly lied about said transfers will be damn near impossible to sort out.

That said, the existence of an email that allegedly contradicts Corzine’s sworn testimony could eventually spawn other charges from the ongoing investigations conducted by federal regulators and a Chicago grand jury. It’s still too soon to tell.

We’ll keep you in the loop…

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