Report: Feds planning to sue Corzine

Federal regulators are preparing to sue former New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine over the collapse of a brokerage firm he headed after leaving office and its misuse of customer funds, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is expected to approve the lawsuit this week.

Corzine headed MF Global until its bankruptcy in 2011 following disclosures that $1 billion customers had entrusted to the brokerage had disappeared.

The Times said the planned lawsuit marks a departure from the past in that the agency has informed Corzine's lawyers that it aims to file the civil case without offering him an opportunity to settle.

A spokesman for Corzine issued a statement denouncing what he called a "unprecedented and meritless civil enforcement action," according to the Times, which said the former governor could face millions of dollars in fines if he loses the court case.

Corzine, 66, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, lost reelection to a second term in 2009 and was succeeded by Gov. Christopher J. Christie.