What do Corzine, Eric Holder and MF Global all have in common?
Besides fraud.
Law firm Covington & Burling.
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MF Global Was A Client Of Eric Holder's And Lanny Breuer's Firm
Those wondering why the Department of Justice has refused to go after Jon Corzine for the vaporization of $1.6 billion in MF Global client funds need look no further than the documents uncovered by the GAI that reveal that the now-defunct MF Global was a client of Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer’s former law firm, Covington & Burling.
Records also reveal that MF Global’s trustee for the Chapter 11 bankruptcy retained as its general bankruptcy counsel Morrison & Foerester--the very law firm from which Associate Attorney General Tony West came to DOJ.
There's more.
As Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer explains in the Washington Times Thursday, the trustee overseeing MF Global’s bankruptcy is former FBI Director Louis Freeh. At Holder’s Senate confirmation hearing Freeh served as a character witness for Holder and revealed that Holder had previously worked for Freeh. “As general counsel,” Freeh said, “I could have engaged any lawyer in America to represent our bank. I chose Eric.”
Until now, the conventional wisdom for why Holder wouldn’t throw the book at Corzine was that Corzine is an Obama campaign bundler. Indeed, as Breitbart News reported, four of the top officials at the Department of Justice--Eric Holder, Thomas Perrelli, Karol Mason, and Tony West--were also big money bundlers for Obama.
But the newly understood crony connections reveal conflicts of interest that extend well beyond mere political support for a common candidate--they go to a tangle of prior business dealings that further underscore the need for a special prosecutor in the Corzine case.
At least 65 members of Congress have already signed a letter to Eric Holder requesting that he appoint a special prosecutor to investigate MF Global’s collapse and the loss of $1.6 billion in customer money. What’s more, even progressives have begun to wonder whether Holder’s Covington & Burling connection explains why the Department of Justice has not charged, prosecuted, or jailed a single Wall Street executive after the biggest financial collapse in American history.
As Richard Eskow of the Huffington Post recently wrote:
More and more Washington insiders are asking a question that was considered off-limits in the nation's capital just a few months ago: Who, exactly, is Attorney General Eric Holder representing? As scandal after scandal erupts on Wall Street, involving everything from global lending manipulation to cocaine and prostitution, more and more people are worrying about Holder's seeming inaction -- or worse -- in the face of mounting evidence.
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Cronyism Is Preventing Prosecution In The Corzine Case
Sixty-five members of Congress have signed a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. requesting that he appoint a special prosecutor to investigate MF Global’s collapse and the loss of $1.6 billion in customer money. As the New York Times has noted, “Mr. Holder has the ultimate authority to decide whether a special counsel is necessary.”
Some contend that the fact that Mr. Holder, Mr. Corzine and Associate Attorney General Tony West all previously served as fundraising “bundlers” for President Obama’s presidential campaign is enough to warrant Mr. Holder’s recusal and the appointment of a special prosecutor. Indeed, a letter signed by 65 members of Congress cites Mr. Corzine’s $500,000 in fundraising for Mr. Obama as one of the reasons a special counsel is needed. A subsequent report by Bloomberg revealed that MF Global had written clauses into bond offerings indicating that Mr. Corzine, a former Democratic U.S. senator and governor of New Jersey, might join a future Obama administration as a Cabinet officer, a revelation that surprised even experienced Wall Street executives.
However, political connections aside, there are at least three compelling economic and financial reasons why a special prosecutor is essential to avoid the appearance of any potential conflicts of interest.
First, the Government Accountability Institute has discovered that prior to going bankrupt, MF Global was a client of Mr. Holder’s former law firm, Covington & Burling. It is unclear how long Covington & Burling represented MF Global. However, records reveal that MF Global owed Covington & Burling $114,275.55 “for services rendered prior to Oct. 31, 2011,” the date MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection. Furthermore, this connection is complicated by the fact that the head of Justice’s criminal division, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, also hailed from Covington & Burling.
What’s more, Associate Attorney General Tony West, who helped raise an estimated $65 million in his role as the co-chairman of Mr. Obama’s campaign, came to the Department of Justice from Morrison & Foerster. The problem: MF Global’s trustee for the Chapter 11 bankruptcy has retained Morrison & Foerster as its general bankruptcy counsel.
Janet Tavakoli - Analyzing the Fraud at MF Global
Reuters - Eric Holder, Top DOJ Lawyers Were Partners With Big Banks
