WASHINGTON (AP) – Jon Corzine plans to tell a House committee that he doesn’t know the location of clients’ money that went missing from failed investment firm MF Global.
The former U.S. senator has been subpoenaed to explain how MF Global, which he led for about 20 months, collapsed into the eighth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history and why an estimated $1.2 billion in client funds is unaccounted for.
In prepared testimony posted Thursday on the House Committee on Agriculture’s website, Corzine apologizes to “all those affected” by MF Global’s failure. The company filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 31. Corzine resigned as CEO on Nov. 3 and hasn’t spoken publicly since.
“I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date,” Corzine says in the statement. He says he can’t say whether there were “operational errors” at MF Global or whether banks or other companies have held onto funds that should be returned to MF Global.
Corzine, 64, said many people in his position would invoke their Fifth Amendment right to avoid answering questions–a move that was widely expected. But he says that as a former senator he recognizes the importance of congressional oversight and will try his best to answer the panel’s questions.
Corzine, however, leaves open the possibility that he will decline to answer some questions. He says that since his resignation from MF Global, he hasn’t had access to certain information he might need to “reconstruct the events that occurred during the chaotic days and the last hours leading up to the bankruptcy filing.”
“Without adequate time and materials to prepare, I may be unable to respond to various questions members might pose,” he says.
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