Jon Corzine

An apologetic Jon Corzine testified before a congressional panel that he was in "stunned disbelief" when he learned that hundreds of millions of dollars of customer money had disappeared from his now-defunct trading firm MF Global Holdings. "I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date," the former MF Global chief executive told the House Agriculture Committee on Thursday in his first public appearance since the company filed for bankruptcy Oct. 31. As much as $1.2 billion may be missing — far more than the $900-million shortfall that was initially suspected, a trustee handling the liquidation of the firm said recently.

Jon Corzine left Goldman Sachs with a net worth far exceeding even that of Mitt Romney's today. Many accounts of his tenure at Goldman suggest he "failed up" the corporate ladder. Pushed out of Goldman in a power struggle, he nonetheless pocketed somewhere between $350 million and $500 million when the company went public. He used the cash to buy himself a Senate seat, spending $62 million out of his own pocket. After the Senate, he spent nearly $40 million of his own money to win the New Jersey governorship.

Jon Corzine resigned from his position atop MF Global just five days after the trading firm declared bankruptcy. Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey and chief executive of Goldman Sachs Group, announced his resignation Friday as numerous regulators and prosecutors probed the firm's swift downfall. He has taken much of the blame for MF Global's demise, and the controversy surrounding his resignation as chairman and chief executive will make it hard for him to return to the realms of finance and politics where he made his name.

An apologetic Jon Corzine testified before a congressional panel that he was in "stunned disbelief" when he learned that hundreds of millions of dollars of customer money had disappeared from his now-defunct trading firm MF Global Holdings. "I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date," the former MF Global chief executive told the House Agriculture Committee on Thursday in his first public appearance since the company filed for bankruptcy Oct. 31. As much as $1.2 billion may be missing — far more than the $900-million shortfall that was initially suspected, a trustee handling the liquidation of the firm said recently.

Gov. Jon Corzine, speaking publicly for the first time since he was seriously injured in an automobile crash two weeks ago, said Thursday that he felt blessed. Sitting in a chair next to his hospital bed, Corzine appeared in good spirits. "I'm the most blessed person who ever lived," Corzine said.

Jon Corzine left Goldman Sachs with a net worth far exceeding even that of Mitt Romney's today. Many accounts of his tenure at Goldman suggest he "failed up" the corporate ladder. Pushed out of Goldman in a power struggle, he nonetheless pocketed somewhere between $350 million and $500 million when the company went public. He used the cash to buy himself a Senate seat, spending $62 million out of his own pocket. After the Senate, he spent nearly $40 million of his own money to win the New Jersey governorship.

Two years ago, millionaire Al Checchi doled out a record $40 million in his bid for the California governorship, only to lose the Democratic primary to Gray Davis. Now Checchi's spending mark is being challenged--and may be broken--by another wealthy businessman who is testing whether big bucks can overcome political inexperience. Jon S.

The sport utility vehicle carrying Gov. Jon Corzine was traveling 91 mph moments before it crashed, the superintendent of state police said in Trenton. The speed limit is 65 mph. The governor was critically injured when the vehicle crashed into a guardrail on the Garden State Parkway just north of Atlantic City last week. He apparently was not wearing his seat belt. Corzine remains in critical but stable condition.

Gov. Jon Corzine underwent another operation in Camden on the leg that was broken in a highway crash. The hourlong surgery at Cooper University Hospital, performed to clean out the 6-inch wound created when his left femur broke, was "uneventful," said Andrew Poag, a spokesman for the governor. Corzine remained in critical but stable condition. He also broke 12 ribs, his collarbone and chest bone and suffered some other, more minor injuries in Thursday's accident.

Countrywide Financial Corp., the mortgage lender bought by Bank of America Corp., settled a lawsuit filed by New Jersey over claims the company made risky, unaffordable subprime mortgages. The agreement requires Calabasas-based Countrywide to create a no-fee loan modification program and a $3.67-million foreclosure relief fund for homeowners and state programs to prevent foreclosures, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine said.

A federal rule adopted Monday places tighter restrictions on how U.S. trading firms can invest their customers' money. The action comes amid a federal investigation into whether MF Global illegally tapped its clients' accounts before filing for bankruptcy. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted Monday to finalize the rule. It prohibits firms from using money from customer accounts for certain investments, including purchases of foreign debt. It also limits how much of their money can be invested in others, such as money-market mutual funds.

Jon Corzine resigned from his position atop MF Global just five days after the trading firm declared bankruptcy. Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey and chief executive of Goldman Sachs Group, announced his resignation Friday as numerous regulators and prosecutors probed the firm's swift downfall. He has taken much of the blame for MF Global's demise, and the controversy surrounding his resignation as chairman and chief executive will make it hard for him to return to the realms of finance and politics where he made his name.

In just 14 months as governor, Chris Christie has become a conservative hero in part because of the delight with which he's taken on some of his harshest critics, particularly the state teachers union. But with the barbs now coming from the Boss, New Jersey's governor may have finally met his match. In a letter to his hometown newspaper , legendary rocker and Garden State icon Bruce Springsteen laments its recent report about how the state was slashing programs that help its poorest citizens while sparing more affluent residents from the budget axe. "The article is one of the few that highlights the contradictions between a policy of large tax cuts, on the one hand, and cuts in services to those in the most dire conditions, on the other," Springsteen writes to the editors of the Asbury Park Press.

When President Obama went to New Jersey in October 2009, it was in support of then- Gov. Jon Corzine's reelection campaign. As he returns one year later for a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Cresskill Wednesday night, the Garden State's new Republican governor won't be there to greet him. Instead, Chris Christie is on the road in Michigan, the latest stop on a busy, blue-state-heavy itinerary campaigning for Republican gubernatorial candidates....

The gulf between the moderate and conservative factions of the Republican Party appeared to spread Sunday when the Republican former candidate in a contentious congressional race endorsed the Democrat. New York State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava's decision was essentially a rebuke of conservative activists who had mounted a wildcat effort to ensure her defeat. She had ended her campaign a day earlier after it became clear she could not win Tuesday's special election. It remained uncertain, however, whether her endorsement could tilt the race toward Democrat Bill Owens.

Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, climbed on a stage here the other night and hailed his state's political history at a rally for Jon Corzine, the embattled Democratic governor running for reelection. "New Jersey," Booker shouted to supporters in the upscale sushi bar, "is a state of impossible dreams." Until recently, that described Corzine's likely odds at the ballot box Tuesday. But the unpopular governor's race against Christopher Christie, the Republican challenger, has tightened to a dead heat after months of relentless negative campaigning by both sides.

Gov. Jon Corzine was breathing on his own again after doctors removed a breathing tube he'd been using since he was critically injured in an April 12 high-speed crash, his spokesman said. Breathing unassisted moves Corzine closer to having his condition upgraded. He has been listed as critical but stable since he was brought to Cooper University Hospital last week.

The state trooper who drove Gov. Jon Corzine the night his SUV slammed into a guard rail could have prevented the crash that nearly killed the governor, an accident investigation team reported. It also found Trooper Robert Rasinski violated department rules. A "black box" recorder showed the SUV to be traveling at 91 mph seconds before the crash. Corzine, who was riding in the front passenger seat, was not wearing a seat belt.

Countrywide Financial Corp., the mortgage lender bought by Bank of America Corp., settled a lawsuit filed by New Jersey over claims the company made risky, unaffordable subprime mortgages. The agreement requires Calabasas-based Countrywide to create a no-fee loan modification program and a $3.67-million foreclosure relief fund for homeowners and state programs to prevent foreclosures, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine said.

In the eyes of many New Jersey state workers, the governor is the Grinch who stole the day after Thanksgiving. New Jersey used to be among at least 24 states that let their workers take the day after Thanksgiving as a paid holiday -- not by law, but as a proclamation by the governor. But this year, Gov. Jon S. Corzine halted the decades-old tradition, saying that state employees who want that Friday off to create a four-day weekend would have to use a vacation or personal day.