These guys want Corzine in prison
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Jon Corzine should go to jail.
Even though I’m the guy typing those words, I am not the one saying them. I met the other day with four commodities traders whose lives have been upended by the alleged misdeeds of Corzine’s firm, MF Global.
The former New Jersey governor, US senator and head of Goldman Sachs certainly has an impressive resume. The four traders would like felon added to the list.
“We aren’t rich guys,” says one of the traders I’ll call Moe because he, like the other three, didn’t want to be identified because they were afraid of reprisals from the CME Group, which handles the accounts of traders of the commodities firms.
Moe contacted me because he wanted the public to understand it wasn’t the Wall Street elite that got hurt by Corzine’s MF Global.
“We are just trying to eke out a living,” he added. Moe had to draw $75,000 from a line of credit on his house to stay in business after his firm’s money — which also happened to be his personal dough — disappeared into MF’s rat hole.
Two other traders I’ll call Meeny and Miney are middle-age guys, still paying for their kids’ college educations. Eeny, the fourth trader, is in his mid-30s and has two small children.
All of them were stung hard — not only because their money at MF disappeared overnight but also because they couldn’t even get on the floor of the exchange to conduct business.
Their IDs had been revoked.
Up to 30,000 of MF’s customers worldwide are said to be unable to access money they had in so-called “segregated” accounts at the company. And with the bankruptcy court and a trustee now involved, that money could be locked up for a long time.
“I want to see jail. I want to see one of these guys go to prison,” Moe said, with Eeny, Meeny and Miney nodding in agreement. “They destroyed lives because they wanted to make money. No more fines and Club Fed. People need to pay” with jail time.
Corzine, who took over the sleepy brokerage firm after being defeated for a second term in the statehouse, is the one they hold most responsible.
The traders are now passing around the hat — collecting $500 from anyone willing to pay so they can hire a lawyer. Meeny explained that this wasn’t money lent to MF; it was just on deposit there. So he shouldn’t be considered a “creditor” by the court.
“It galls me that we have to pay money to get our own money back,” Meeny added.
If you remember the children’s rhyme, Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Moe — usually chanted as part of a game of tag — someone is eventually “it.”
Right now the traders are “it.” But they’d like Corzine and his pals tagged pretty soon.