The New York City’s Comptroller Office hired a former executive from MF Global to help manage the city’s pensions a month before the company led by ex-New Jersey  Governor Jon Corzine filed for bankruptcy in October.

Kevin Davis, the company’s former CEO, started working as the head of commodities in the Bureau of Asset Management in September, according to a spokesman for John Liu, the city’s comptroller.

The story was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Davis was chosen because “he was he best applicant for the job,” according to a statement from Larry Schloss, who joined the comptroller’s office in 2010 as Deputy Comptroller for Pensions and Chief Investment Officer, and had prior to that served on MF Global’s board of directors.

“Kevin Davis has 26 years of experience in commodities and has run a global business,” Schloss said. “Kevin will help devise a long-term commodities strategy for the pension funds in order to further optimize the investment portfolio.”

Davis left MF Global in October 2008, after the firm's market value dropped significantly.

Earlier that same year, MF Global fired a broker who made more than 100 unauthorized trades in the wheat market from his home computer that resulted in a $141.5 million loss.

A month later, investors, led by four public pension funds, brought a lawsuit against MF Global, alleging they were misled about the company’s risk management practices.

In November this year, a $90 million settlement, reached by investors and MF Global in January, was approved in the Southern District of New York court.