One of the problems about testifying before Congress is that what you say can be used against you later.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein found this out the hard way. Months after he had testified before Congress, his words came back to haunt him in the form of fairly direct accusations by senators that he had perjured himself in significant ways based on subsequent congressional investigation. He was forced to hire a criminal defense attorney.

Jon Corzine--former CEO of Goldman Sachs, but more infamous for his role as CEO of disgraced MF Global--has suffered similarly for his testimony before congress this week. While Corzine maintained he did not know about any violations of law, Terrence Duffy, CEO of the CME Group, said under oath later that Corzine was quite aware of a transfer of $175 of customer money to a European affiliate. Corzine said he was aware of some uses of customer money, which is legal in some cases. But the suggestion from Duffy is that he knew about possibly dubious transfers.

He was quoted by the Washington Post saying that, "The only thing I can tell you is that MF Global transferred customer money to its broker dealer, and that Mr. Corzine was aware of the loans being made from segregated accounts." He also said these transfers were illegal and were disguised. "Somebody went in and violated the rules of the CME and the rules of the government."

Corzine has tried to paint this as a semantic misunderstanding. But the controversy is something of a challenge to investigators. They will be under pressure to bring charges against people at the top. It looks like the CME is willing to aid their cause.

For more:
- here's the article from the Washington Post

Related article:
Corzine: "I simply do not know where the money is"