MF Global Holdings Ltd., the holding company for the broker-dealer run by former New Jersey governor and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. co-chairman Jon Corzine, filed for bankruptcy protection after making bets on European sovereign debt, Bloomberg reported.

The New York-based firm listed total debts of $39.7 billion and assets of $41 billion in Chapter 11 papers filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Its finance unit, MF Global Finance USA Inc., also filed, with debts of as much as $50 million and assets of as much as $500 million.

Following a record loss, MF Global was suspended today from doing new business with the New York Federal Reserve Bank, according to a statement on the regulator’s website. Trading in MF Global’s stock was also halted.

MF Global declined 67 percent last week and its bonds started trading at distressed levels amid its disclosures of bets on European sovereign debt.

MF Global reported a $191.6 million quarterly loss on Oct. 25, and Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings cut its credit rankings to junk-bond level.

The broker of commodities, derivatives, equity and foreign exchange had $7.2 billion of customer funds in segregated accounts as of Aug. 31, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It was one of 22 primary dealers authorized to trade U.S. government securities with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and is a member of more than 70 financial exchanges, according to its website.

Unsecured creditors include JPMorgan Chase & Co., as trustee for holders of $1.2 billion in debt, and Deutsche Bank AG, as trustee for holders of more than $1 billion in notes due in 2016 and 2018, MF Global said in court papers.