Five years after the collapse of MF Global, a settlement will soon be reached between Jon Corzine, the former CEO of the now-bankrupt brokerage firm, and customers who claim their funds were wrongfully used to offset the shortfall, making those accounts unavailable to them. Although Corzine and his attorneys insist this was not the case, the onetime New Jersey senator and governor and Goldman Sachs chairman has agreed to fork over $132 million. But how much of it will be out of his own pocket?
As Peg Brickley explains in the Wall Street Journal,
This insurance can also be used in Corzine’s defense against ongoing charges by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
It’s been a long climb down from the mountaintop. Corzine rose to prominence on Wall Street as the youngest senior partner at Goldman Sachs. Viewed as a financial guru, he became a darling of the Democratic party (his Senate race in 2000 is the second-most expensive in the history of that chamber). But like many of his predecessors*, Corzine eventually wore out his welcome. By the end of his term as governor, Corzine’s popularity fell to 33 percent. In 2009 he lost to U.S. Attorney Chris Christie (being a Goldman Sachs banker was no longer something to tout). He returned to Wall Street, overseeing MF Global, making risky ventures overseas, buying up debt in several European countries before the global recession—a risk that did not pay off. Bankruptcy ensued followed by accusations that the CEO was making inappropriate use of client funds during the company’s meltdown.
Corzine stepped down and, until last winter, he kept a fairly low profile. But on December 3, he agreed to speak to business students at Fairleigh Dickinson University. His topic was “life lessons” and career advice based on his own successes and failures.
“Events don’t always go as we plan,” the governor admitted. “And it is absolutely essential that we learn from those issues ourselves as we go forward. How we address those mistakes, how we address defeat, big and small, really will distinguish whether you are a real winner or whether you are a defeated person.” He seemed almost serene, wearing a jacket but no tie (also his hair is reaching LBJ post-presidency length). And no, it’s not just you: As my colleague Jonathan V. Last has always insisted, Jon Corzine’s voice is identical to that of actor Jeff Bridges. Obadiah Stane in 2020!
With regard to MF Global, Corzine chose his words carefully: “On the other hand, after my defeat for reelection as governor, I failed in an attempt, as a private-equity investor, to turn around a struggling firm, and one that had a weakened, deteriorating franchise. That defeat was not easy. Defeats aren’t easy, and they are quite painful. And, let me say, as you’ve heard in other contexts, ‘I’ve been rich, and I’ve been poor, I sure’s hell prefer the former, and I can say the same thing about winning.'”
He spoke of the need for persistence and especially resilience “in how you build careers, how you deal with the events of life.” He also warned the aspiring entrepreneurs to “buckle up” when it comes to life’s ups and downs.
It’s rather ironic of him to use that phrase, considering the awful car accident he was in back in 2007. The other passengers suffered only minor injuries compared with the governor who broke about a dozen ribs, his collarbone, and his sternum, not to mention the compound fracture of his femur and the plastic surgery needed to repair his face. As it turned out, he did not buckle up.
*It’s hard to remember the last time a governor of the Garden State left on a high note. A Republican pollster once told me of a focus group he ran for then-New Jersey governor Donald DiFrancesco. The pollster, who requested anonymity, asked one of the group participants what he honestly thought of the governor. Said the New Jersey resident: “Donny D don’t know s—t about f—k!”
