Third to the last paragraph in this ABC piece finally gets around to mentioning that Jon Corzine is a Democrat.
Montana farmers have filed a class action suit against former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, charging that the failed financial firm run by Corzine stole millions from their accounts to pay off its spiraling debts, and that Corzine's "single-minded obsession" with making MF Global a big player on Wall Street led to the firm's collapse.
MF Global's clients included 38,000 wheat farmers, cattle ranchers and others who "hedged" their crop prices by placing millions in MF Global accounts. Those accounts were supposed to be "segregated and secure," according to the federal suit, meaning MF Global could not draw on those funds.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of all 38,000 customers, alleges that when MF Global made a series of bad investments -- notably in European debt -- it began "siphoning funds withdrawn from segregated client accounts" to cover its debts.
"This is a suit by the real victims of MF Global," said plaintiff's attorney Mark Baker of the law firm Anderson, Baker & Swanson. "The missing funds were not investments in MF Global, or loans to MF Global, but rather the customer's own money as collateral to guaranty their contracts. They were not to be used by others -- let alone their own broker -- to speculate on risky and exotic securities."
Corzine was at the helm of the firm when it declared Chapter 11 on October 31 , the eighth-largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. Regulators initially thought $600 million in customer funds had gone missing, but later upped their estimate to $1.2 billion. Only 60 percent of customer funds could be found.
The Montana complaint takes square aim at Corzine, alleging that the former governor longed to make MF Global a Wall Street powerhouse through a series of risky investments. The lawsuit says Corzine, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, had a "single-minded obsession" when he took over in early 2010. But Corzine was reckless in his zeal, according to plaintiffs' attorneys, instead trading in the risky debt of European countries. MF Global grew not through sound business, alleges the complaint, but "through Corzine's political lobbying and the commingling and looting of customers' segregated accounts."
"Once over $1.2 billion in customer accounts was unaccounted for, the Defendants were quick to bury their heads deep in the sand," the lawsuit claims.
According to the February issue of Vanity Fair, Corzine, who reportedly made over $16 million between 2010 and 2011, was shopping for a chateau in France with his wife two weeks before MF Global filed for bankruptcy.
Testifying before the House Agriculture Committee in December, Corzine said he had no idea where the $1.2 billion in missing customer funds had gone and that investigators are still untangling what happened. Later in the month, he appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee to deny any wrongdoing. "I never directed anyone at MF Global to misuse customer funds. I never intended to, and as far as I'm concerned, I never gave instructions that anyone could misconstrue," said Corzine.
"And if you want to know anything more, give me a call. I'll be in France. At my chateau."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2012 00:00 ||
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I expect the French real estate market is hurting these days; $1.2 billion out to buy something pretty nice.
#2
Question for people who understand these things: Let us suppose that this suit succeeds. Do the plaintiffs have more than a snowball's chance of getting even a fraction of their money back?
#1
Santorum came in 5th. I'm predicting he'll drop out after SC.
Looks like Romney picked up some of Bachmann's votes, which has bumped him past 25% for the first time ever. Still got the same number of votes in NH that he did in 2008. He is quite literally the worst Republican front runner ever.
Paul's rise is troubling. He's picking up some of the not-Romneys -- people who don't realize he's insane. Right now Paul is Romney's best friend in the world.
#2
Romny had his victory margin halved in the week after Iowa. The question is "If he's that vulnerable with the press and Obama holding their fire, what's going to happen to him in the general?"
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/11/2012 11:04 Comments ||
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#4
If Romney is the Pub candidate, he will pick up momentum for the general elections once the uncertainty of the primaries is gone. Even Matt Damon and Harry Bellefonte don't like Obummer (although they will probably vote for him when crunch time comes). Who is propping up Obama at this point other than the hardcore Donks who would vote for a firehydrant if it were Democratic? Obama has long ago surpassed Jimmy Carter. I cannot understand why anyone would vote for him at this point.
#7
I heard it suggested that there is same day registration in NH and that could explain a lot of Ron Paul votes. Democrats acting as spoilers or whatever. Hope its not true but it is really the only explaination for Ron Paul's large vote that I can stomach.
#9
I would vote for a plant before I'd vote for Obama. I would prefer the plant be conservative. Bill Buckley was in favor of nominating the most conservative Republican who could get elected. There are other candidates who have dropped out or who most likely will drop out that I would have preferred. I'm not sure they could have gotten elected. I don't think these election dynamics are anything like those that surrounded Bob Dole or McCain during their campaigns. The country is going down the tubes under Obama--another four years of this will most likely finish it off.
#10
"I don't think these election dynamics are anything like those that surrounded Bob Dole or McCain during their campaigns."
The dynamic is that when the Republican nominee would make a fine Democrat, Republicans stay home, don't donate, don't put up signs, etc. Romney 100% fits into this category. Already 75% of the party can't stand him. Wait till the attack ads start.
The even bigger problem is with Independents. These are emotional voters. They need to get excited, feel good, etc. If we don't like our own guy, they pick up on it.
Bottom line. Romney vs. Obama is a false choice. Romney can't win. He can't win his own state (MA). He can't excite his own party. There is nothing to vote for. His only pitch is that he is not Obama, and given Obamacare, Global Warming, etc he is as close a Republican version of Obama as we have. I'd prefer a little more contrast.
President Obama has picked a strong advocate of universal amnesty immigration reform to head his outreach to Hispanic illegals for Campaign 2012 Domestic Policy Council.
The White House announced Tuesday that Cecilia Muñoz, a former senior vice president of the National Council of La Raza, would replace Melody Barnes at the top of the council. White House press secretary Jay Carney announced the appointment during his press briefing.
La Raza is one of the worst race-baiting groups out there. They'd break off our entire Southwest as a new nation only for Hispanics -- whites not allowed. Wonder if any MSM journalist will ask her about that? On second thought, I don't wonder at all...
Muñoz is now serving as the White House's director of intergovernmental affairs and is in charge of outreach to state and local governments.
"The president has asked, she has accepted," Carney said.
Muñoz is an immigration expert who worked for the National Council of La Raza, the largest Latino race hating civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, until she joined the administration in 2009.
Obama has frequently been criticized by pro-immigration reform advocates for not pressing harder for changes to the country's immigration laws. Hispanic groups also have complained that the administration has stepped up deportations of illegal aliens.
Since that is, you know, the law...
All of this has led to questions about whether Obama will garner strong support from Hispanics in his 2012 reelection bid. It is crucial to Obama's reelection that he win a large majority of the Hispanic vote, particularly in critical swing states such as Florida, New Mexico and Colorado.
Carney called Muñoz "the best person for the job."
At hustling the vote...
In her new role, Muñoz will become the presidents senior adviser on domestic affairs that fall outside the strict purview of the National Economic Council, which is headed by Gene Sperling.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2012 00:00 ||
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La Raza is one of the worst race-baiting groups out there
The very name 'La Raza' means 'the Race'. Does this mean Obama will be sucking up to the Aryan Brotherhood in the interests of bipartisanship?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
