When Jon Corzine was hired to head MF Global, he was greeted like a rock star.

The board was ecstatic to get a former Goldman Sachs CEO and political power, albeit one who had just lost a New Jersey gubernatorial election. He was seen as a man with connections at all levels, who could indeed turn the firm into a mini-Goldman Sachs. When regulatory issues came up, Corzine's contacts were unmatched. He won at least one big regulatory battle that may come back to bite the firm. One person with whom he has had a long association is no less that Gary Gensler, the head of the CFTC, who has done the right thing by recusing himself from all matters related to MF Global.

According to the Washington Post, "Before being named chairman for the CFTC by President Obama, Gensler was a top official in the Treasury Department in the Clinton administration. He also was a Senate aide when Corzine was a U.S. senator from New Jersey, and both of them worked on legislation responding to the Enron scandal."

And of course, both men are alums of Goldman Sachs. Gensler made partner while he was yet in his 30s, en route to an 18-year career at the gilded bank. In the wake of the implosion, Gensler said all the right things about MF Global and what regulators needed to do. But his relationship with Corzine would have always hung like storm cloud over the proceedings. He needed to get out of the way, which just might be a relief to him.

For more:
- here's the WaPo article

Related articles:
Corzine steps down, lawyers up   
Regulators probe MF Global for fraud  
Jon Corzine, MF Global CEO, eyes future in politics