Post by jannikki on Nov 16, 2006 22:28:31 GMT -4
More defendants seen in Refco criminal case-lawyer
U.S. adds charge against ex-Refco CEO
NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - More defendants may be added in the government's criminal fraud case against Refco Inc.'s (RFXCQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) former chief executive and chief financial officer, a U.S. prosecutor said on Thursday.
"There may be another defendant or two at the table in a month's time," Neil Barofsky, told a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Barofsky said the government received the results of a forensic accounting investigation of Refco's finances, which allowed them to expand their case and may lead to new defendants.
Prosecutors used the forensic data to file a revised indictment against former CEO Phillip Bennett and former CFO Robert Trosten earlier this week.
Bennett, 58, and Trosten, 37, are accused of hiding from investors and auditors $430 million in bad customer debt owed to Refco by a company controlled by Bennett called Refco Group Holdings Inc. (RGHI), according to court papers.
The government alleges the debt was hidden by shifting it to off-balance sheet entities each year from 1999 to 2005.
Bennett was in court on Thursday to answer the charges in the latest indictment. His lawyer, Gary Naftalis, entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. Trosten's attorney also pleaded not guilty for his client, who was at the hearing.
U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald also set a new trial date of Oct. 9, 2007, after lawyers for Bennett and Trosten said they had received 12 million pages of documents from prosecutors to review, a task that would be impossible to complete by the original trial date of March 12.
Trosten's lawyer, Robert Morvillo, also told Judge Buchwald he would file a motion within two weeks to have his client's case severed from Bennett's case.
The Manhattan-based futures brokerage went into bankruptcy on Oct. 17, 2005 just a few months after its IPO and a week after it was disclosed it was owed the $430 million by Refco Group Holdings.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20061116:MTFH24699_2006-11-16_22-26-32_N16337570&type=comktNews&rpc=44
U.S. adds charge against ex-Refco CEO
NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - More defendants may be added in the government's criminal fraud case against Refco Inc.'s (RFXCQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) former chief executive and chief financial officer, a U.S. prosecutor said on Thursday.
"There may be another defendant or two at the table in a month's time," Neil Barofsky, told a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Barofsky said the government received the results of a forensic accounting investigation of Refco's finances, which allowed them to expand their case and may lead to new defendants.
Prosecutors used the forensic data to file a revised indictment against former CEO Phillip Bennett and former CFO Robert Trosten earlier this week.
Bennett, 58, and Trosten, 37, are accused of hiding from investors and auditors $430 million in bad customer debt owed to Refco by a company controlled by Bennett called Refco Group Holdings Inc. (RGHI), according to court papers.
The government alleges the debt was hidden by shifting it to off-balance sheet entities each year from 1999 to 2005.
Bennett was in court on Thursday to answer the charges in the latest indictment. His lawyer, Gary Naftalis, entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. Trosten's attorney also pleaded not guilty for his client, who was at the hearing.
U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald also set a new trial date of Oct. 9, 2007, after lawyers for Bennett and Trosten said they had received 12 million pages of documents from prosecutors to review, a task that would be impossible to complete by the original trial date of March 12.
Trosten's lawyer, Robert Morvillo, also told Judge Buchwald he would file a motion within two weeks to have his client's case severed from Bennett's case.
The Manhattan-based futures brokerage went into bankruptcy on Oct. 17, 2005 just a few months after its IPO and a week after it was disclosed it was owed the $430 million by Refco Group Holdings.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20061116:MTFH24699_2006-11-16_22-26-32_N16337570&type=comktNews&rpc=44