Former NJ Gov. Jon Corzine resigns from MF Global amid scandal

Wall Street star Jon Corzine resigned Friday as chief executive of bankrupt futures broker MF Global, the first major US casualty of the European debt crisis.

Corzine, whose activities in the last weeks of the failing firm have attracted regulator scrutiny, stepped down four days after the company sought bankruptcy court protection amid worries over its $6.3 billion holdings of risky eurozone sovereign debt.

"The board of directors of MF Global Holdings Ltd. announced the resignation of Jon S. Corzine from all posts at MF Global," the company said in a statement.

"Mr. Corzine has confirmed that he will not seek severance payments in connection with his resignation."

The company will be led by Edward Goldberg, the lead director of the board, and Bradley Abelow, president and chief operating officer, it said.

MF Global saw its credit lines cut after markets became concerned over a lack of adequate capital and its holdings of short-term debt in financially beleaguered Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland.

Its stock price collapsed -- sending more backers for the door -- after Moody's downgraded its credit rating to jut above junk level on October 27.

US media reported that the company appeared to try to mask its risk exposure and capital weakness in recent months, and the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission is investigating whether hundreds of millions of dollars in clients' money was diverted for the company's own trading.