MF Global's Jon Corzine may decide silence is golden

[dipsydoodle]

Pleading the Fifth could serve Corzine well, as shown after other high-profile corporate collapses.

Next month, the House financial services committee will publicly quiz Corzine for the first time about the collapse of MF Global, the brokerage he headed until it went bust. Government lawyers and private investors will be hanging on his every word as Corzine is called upon to explain what went wrong in what could be one of the most worrying bankruptcies since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Regulators and the court-appointed trustee looking for MF Global's missing money are now searching for somewhere between $600m and $1.2bn (£773m) in missing funds.

The case is gaining more attention as farmers who used the firm to hedge against losses have begun to press politicians and regulators for action as they fret about their missing money. In relative terms MF Global is small fry but the problems its collapse exposes could end up being anything but.

The hearings come as federal investigators continue to try to work out what happened at MF Global. So far Corzine has said nothing publicly about the broker's spectacular collapse. He could refuse to testify, in which case the panel could subpoena him. Corzine faces a tough choice as he faces a committee that, in its own words, will focus on "the decisions and events leading to the collapse of MF Global, the effectiveness of regulators in overseeing MF Global's activities and the impact MF Global's bankruptcy will have on its customers".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/25/jon-corzine-mfglobal-financial-services-committee