The real Jon Corzine (Current Frontrunner For SOC's "Asshole Of The Year" Award!)

The image of ex-MF Global CEO Jon Corzine perpetuated by the daily flow of news articles is hardly flattering.

He has been painted as a reckless man and a bully, one who overrode his compliance officers and insisted he be allowed to bet the farm (disastrously) on European debt, one who ran a shoddy shop that was desperate to save itself and ended up "losing" $1.2 billion of client money. Some people would love to see him in jail, though that is not likely.

A Vanity Fair article aims to get behind the myth of Corzine and reveal his true self. And guess what? The picture it paints is perhaps even less flattering than the public image.

In a lengthy article, the magazine details Corzine's end-of-career implosion, including the dissolution of his marriage after 33 years. The picture was so unflattering that his children wrote to the magazine disputing the portrayal and denying that they are estranged form their father. They also dispute the account of how Corzine felt his wife was "becoming too close" to David Tepper, the hedge fund honcho and a Corzine rival.

Just days before Corzine's divorce was finalized, his wife "startled Corzine by suddenly insisting on keeping the Sagaponack house. Corzine had hoped it would become a gathering place for their children and a way to rebuild his ties to them. But Joanne insisted, and he gave in, valuing the house at roughly $9 million. That might have been the end of the story, except that Joanne has what one friend calls 'a real nose for real estate.' In 2010, after renting the house for a stunning $900,000 for a single summer, she sold it for $44 million. The buyer was none other than David Tepper. Corzine, friends say, was apoplectic. One suspects he grew even angrier when Tepper tore down the house to build one of his own."

For more:
- here's the article