Don’t Expect a Talkative Jon Corzine Tomorrow at Congressional Hearing

Former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is scheduled to testify tomorrow morning before the House Agriculture Committee which has jurisdiction over commodities and futures markets. Corzine, also a former U.S. Senator was subpoenaed former to testify about his role leading MF Global.

MF Global filed for bankruptcy on October 31 after a doomed bet on European debt. Nearly $1.2 billion is estimated to still be missing from customer accounts. Regulators are investigating whether MF Global used money from customers' accounts for its own needs as its financial condition worsened. That would violate securities rules. The FBI is also investigating to see if the firm violated any criminal laws.

Corzine’s spokesman is not commenting but most legal experts feel the best course of action for Corzine is to refuse to answer any questions based on his Fifth Amendment rights. They say that by choosing to answer some questions, but not others, he may create more of an impression of guilt than by refusing to answer any.