Judge Orders Prison for Former Refco CEO
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press | July 3, 2008
A judge has sentenced the former chief executive of Refco Inc. to 16 years in prison for a financial cover-up that brought down one of the world's largest commodities brokerages.
Phillip Bennett, a British citizen living at Gladstone, N.J., had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and other charges.
Refco went public in August 2005. It filed for bankruptcy just weeks later — after disclosing that a $430 million debt owed to Refco by a firm controlled by Bennett had been concealed. The disclosure caused Refco's stock value to plummet.
