Jon Corzine at the height of his power as Jersey gov. (AP)
How the mighty have fallen.
It seems like only yesterday that Jon Corzine was the life of the party, holding court on the Hamptons political circuit, raising money for Barack Obama.
Now, Corzine — just months removed from a humiliating financial scandal — is persona non grata in the tony playground of the rich, and it’s clearly taking its toll, insiders said.
“He’s certainly not getting the invitations that he would have gotten before,” a friend of his told The Post.
Corzine, 65, was looking worn out and gaunt earlier this week as he trudged along Main Street in East Hampton on his way back from the local Starbucks.
With an oversized sweatshirt and baggy jeans, the stressed-out former governor of New Jersey looked as if he was on his way to a dental appointment instead of a relaxing evening.
“I think it was pretty noticeable that he was haggard and somewhat unfocused,” said the friend, who ran into Corzine recently. “You can definitely see that he’s a troubled man right now.”
Corzine’s business world came crashing down last year after the $40 billion implosion of his brokerage firm, MF Global, an epic financial free-fall that ended with $1.2 billion in client funds missing.
Combine that with a brutal 2009 election loss to Chris Christie that followed a near-fatal crash on the Garden State Parkway in 2007, and it’s hard not to notice the dark cloud hovering over Corzine’s head.
Friends said Corzine looks like a shell of the man who seven months ago sat before a Senate subcommittee and said, “I simply do not know where the money is.”
When he’s not wallowing in misery, Corzine has been making the Hamptons rounds.
Residents have spotted him in his favorite haunts, such as Nick and Toni’s restaurant in East Hampton and the American Hotel restaurant in Sag Harbor.
But he is far less visible these days than he was, say, four years ago, when he was working the cocktail parties raising money for Obama, still holding on to the prospect of a federal post as budget director or treasury secretary.
Locals say his days in the Hamptons don’t give him the lift they once did when he was Jersey’s governor or senator.
Now, Corzine can barely enjoy a cup of coffee in the very getaway that used to recharge his batteries.