Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg NewsEdith O’Brien, a senior official in MF Global’s Chicago office, at the House panel hearing on the company’s collapse.The latest round of “what happened at MF Global” has just started, and already the sparks are flying.
Only the sparks are mostly between Republicans and Democrats, not witnesses and lawmakers.
After a short statement from Representative Randy Neugebauer, Republican of Texas, who said the panel was looking “to do an autopsy on how a 228-year-old company came to its demise,” the spat began.
Live Video: C-Span Coverage of MF Global PanelRepresentative Michael E. Capuano, Democrat of Massachusetts, aired his frustrations about leaks of a Congressional memo. The leak last Friday evening came before the committee was able to release the memo publicly.
“Material of the committee belongs to the committee,” Mr. Capuano said, noting that the committee typically works in a bipartisan fashion. “It does not belong to a member. It must be shared equally.”
The committee chairman, Spencer T. Bachus, took a dig at the firm’s former chief executive, Jon S. Corzine, calling MF Global his corporate “alter ego.”
“What happened in the firm’s final day rests with him,” Mr. Bachus said.
And then it was the Democrats turn again. Representative Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, took a shot at the Republican members of the committee, saying they had been slow to turn over documents obtained during the course of the investigation.
“I believe that your side has been unacceptably slow with sharing your documents,” Mr. Lynch said. “I have no intention of going easy on MF Global. We are of one mind here. I am as incensed as you are.”
“I am also disappointed that I have not received the full extent of info collected by your staff,” he said.
Next up, Francisco Canseco, Republican of Texas, noted that he couldn’t help but wonder whether Mr. Corzine, a former Democratic governor of New Jersey, was “exempt from a thorough investigation by the Justice Department.”
Mr. Corzine has not been accused of any wrongdoing, a fact that seemed to grind Mr. Canseco.
Another lawmaker suggested that the Dodd-Frank regulatory overhaul, a centerpiece of Democratic legislative accomplishments, stymied regulators efforts to stop MF Global’s collapse.
Incensed, Mr. Capuano, the Democrat, who reclaimed the microphone, lashed out.
“I’ve just heard that the Obama administration and the Dodd Frank bill caused this problem,” shouted Mr. Capuano, who dared anyone on the committee to hand over any evidence that the Justice Department was going easy on Mr. Corzine. “If you do, I would like to see it because it would be another matter that we don’t have.”
Mr. Capuano continued: “I know we’re all out here to make political point; I’m a politician, too. But let’s figure out what happened here.”
Lawmakers quickly descended on Edith O’Brien, the treasury official at MF Global who was the “keeper of the customer funds.”
Ms. O’Brien, as expected, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, on advice of her counsel. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get answers from Ms. O’Brien, she was excused from the hearing.
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