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This week the House Committee on Agriculture held a hearing to investigate the loss of $1.2 billion of investor funds by MF Global.  The Committee has jurisdiction over the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulated MF Global.  Congressman Scott participated in the hearings and asked questions of former CEO Jon Corzine.

There are obviously many unanswered questions regarding the collapse of MF Global. Chief among them of course is what happened to the customer funds that have disappeared. Is it missing because of poor accounting practices, or because of nefarious actions by a person or persons at MF Global? Congress must explore if this was an isolated incident of criminal malfeasance, or a systemic problem brought to light because of the scale of MF Global.  A situation of this magnitude warrants no less than turning over every stone to identify what went wrong when, where, why and how.

The Hill blog covered part of the Congressman's query to Governor Corzine:

His caginess drove Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) to frustration, who called it the “height of disbelief” to accept that Corzine did not know more about the firm’s collapse.

“I understand the position you’re in, but Mr. Corzine, we’ve got to find that money,” he said. “We’ve got to get better answers than this from you because you are the CEO.”

The Washington Post quoted the Congressman about the role of the regulator in the case:

Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) also blasted Gensler’s absence from the hearing room Thursday: “It’s an example of why the American people are rapidly losing faith in Washington.”