Keyword: refco
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Nearly three weeks after $600 million in customer money went missing from MF Global, the search for the cash has been hampered by the bankrupt brokerage firm’s sloppy record-keeping, an increasingly worrisome situation that has left regulators frustrated and customers in the lurch. The round-the-clock effort has consumed an alphabet soup of federal regulators and criminal investigators, with lawyers sleeping at open desks and each agency commandeering a different conference room at the firm’s offices. But as authorities comb through some 38,000 customer accounts, they are growing more suspicious about what went wrong at MF Global, the commodities powerhouse once...
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<p>A major figure in liberal Democrat Jon Corzine’s bankrupt firm, MF Global, used to work for hedge fund operator and Democratic Party financial patron George Soros. MF Global Holdings Ltd., now under FBI investigation, had hired Munir Javeri as Global Head of Trading.</p>
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NEW YORK -- Phillip R. Bennett, Refco Inc.'s former chief executive officer, was sentenced to 16 years in prison Thursday for his role in a scheme to hide the commodities broker's financial troubles. At a hearing, U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan said white-collar defendants such as Mr. Bennett often "just don't think they'll get caught." "You and others like you play a truly high-stakes poker game," the judge said. The judge didn't impose a fine and said restitution will be discussed at a later date. Mr. Bennett has agreed to forfeit essentially all of his assets. The...
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Phillip Bennett, the former chief executive of Refco, was sentenced to 16 years in prison Thursday for fleecing investors of more than $2.4 billion in a fraud that destroyed the world's largest independent commodities broker. The sentence marks the latest chapter in the decline and fall of Phillip Bennett, 59, who built Refco into a global commodities trading empire only to see it unravel in 2005 after the company disclosed an accounting deception. ... Bennett, who at Refco's peak was a billionaire, but will forfeit all his assets as part of his sentence, was penitent on...
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There are 20+ million readers of FR. Most everyone of them are among the most intelligent Americans that exist today. This is a 1-hour presentation about a scandal that dwarfs Enron, a scandal that should be as important in our thinking as the War on Terror and in fact interplays with WOT. Once America has an understanding of this scandal, the revolution that ensues will change American markets and politics as severely as the Great Depression transformed American society of the 1930s and 1940s. The revolution this scandal will generate could go in any direction. It is the duty of...
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Sunday, October 23, 2005 The $10 Billion REFCO Smoking Gun The listing for the assets and liabilities of REFCO was just made available, and guess what just happens to be hiding in the liabilities column? A $10 billion liability, at TODAY's mark to market valuation, called "Securities sold, not yet purchased." $10,590,379,000 - to be precise. Securities that have been sold. But they haven't been bought. Welcome to the wonderful world of naked short selling. Now, one might say, "hey, wait a minute, but Thompson of the DTCC said it's only a $6 billion per day problem." Only.
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If you want to know what a modern bank run looks like, consider the case of the giant commodity trading firm Refco. It went public in mid-August, but in the course of the past week it has gone from $4 billion stock-market darling to carcass. The proximate cause of the meltdown was the surprise disclosure on Monday, Oct. 10, that an entity controlled by CEO Phillip Bennett had owed $430 million to the company. A week later, trading of the stock has been halted and vultures are picking over Refco the way hyenas gnaw on the remains of wildebeest. Refco...
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Refco, one of the largest futures trading firms in the world has declared bankruptcy and its chairman is being charged with a number of felonies. The following paragraph from a Washington Post article might jog the memories of some of us older timers. A close examination of her individual trades underscores Blair's pivotal role. It also shows that Robert L. "Red" Bone, who ran the Springdale, Ark., office of Ray E. Friedman and Co. (Refco), allowed Clinton to initiate and maintain many trading positions – besides the first – when she did not have enough money in her account to...
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Troubled commodities brokerage Refco Inc. said on Monday it had filed for bankruptcy protection as it struck a deal to sell its core futures brokerage business to a group of private equity investors for $768 million (439 million pounds). New York-based Refco said it and certain subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday as part of the memorandum of understanding with investors. None of Refco's regulated subsidiaries -- its futures brokerage business, which is conducted through Refco LLC, Refco Overseas Ltd. and Refco Singapore Ltd, and its broker-dealer, Refco Securities LLC -- filed for bankruptcy...
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Refco was a train wreck just waiting to happen URBANE banker or crook, call Phillip Bennett what you want, but those who have met him are starting to realise they never knew the man beneath the sharp suits. Until last weekend Bennett was chairman and chief executive of Refco, one of the world’s biggest futures brokers. Today he is chairman of nothing, under house arrest and the former dollar billionaire will be lucky if he is left with a billion dimes. The British-born Cambridge graduate is at the centre of a scandal that could turn his firm to vapour. It...
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In an attempt to bring stability to the crisis at Refco Inc., regulators have asked Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other firms to buy or assume financial responsibility for its massive futures-trading operation, people familiar with the matter said. The approach, made by senior regulators at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, may calm fears among investors, lenders and trading partners who have been increasingly concerned about the future of the company. Any buyer would likely be expected to guarantee deposits of the unit and allow traders to unwind their positions. With $4.1 billion in customer futures...
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World's hedge funds face crisis as Refco suspends trading · Leading global broker admits 'liquidity problem' · Billions of pounds could be tied up in frozen deals Jill Treanor Friday October 14, 2005 A crisis in the world's hedge fund industry was in prospect last night after one of the world's largest derivatives brokers was forced to freeze trades potentially worth billions of pounds. The move by Refco, which acts for many leading speculative investors both on Wall Street and in the City, followed the discovery of accounts irregularities at the firm earlier this week and the issue of fraud...
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Refco Inc., the commodities broker mired in an accounting scandal in which its chief executive hid bad debts from shareholders and regulators, said Thursday it will freeze customers' accounts in one of its subsidiaries for 15 days because it may not have enough cash on hand to operate normally. Refco Capital Markets Ltd., an offshore broker for stocks, bonds and currencies, is the subsidiary that former CEO Phillip Bennett, 57, allegedly used to help hide up to $545 million in bad debts. Bennett was indicted on federal charges Wednesday that he caused Refco to file...
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NEW YORK (AP) -- One of the world's biggest commodities brokerages Monday said its chief executive took an indefinite leave of absence after the company discovered he had secretly transferred $430 million of the company's assets to a firm he controlled. Refco Inc. also said its financial statements since 2002 "should no longer be relied upon" and that it would delay filing its quarterly earnings release originally slated for next week. The news sent Refco shares plunging $12.96, or 45 percent, to close at $15.60 on the New York Stock Exchange. Refco, which became a publicly traded company in...
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True legacy?? A Chinese company is honoring ex-president Bill Clinton by naming a new line of condoms after him - along with a companion line of condoms that will be named after his ex-girlfriend, Monica Lewinsky........
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Borrowing a page from President Bush, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton told a Boston audience this week that prayer has always played a meaningful role in her life - though accounts from her days as a student radical suggest that's probably not true. "I've always been a praying person," Clinton told a crowd of more than 500, including many religious leaders, at Boston's Fairmont Copley Plaza. According to the Boston Globe, the newly religious former first lady "invoked God more than half a dozen times" as she urged society to accommodate religious people who "live out their faith in the...
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You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends tell us that the two are cheering Sis on and say she's making all the moves to get ready for the race--presuming she is re-elected by New Yorkers in 2006.
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On the eve of President Bush's second inauguration, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is blasting him as the "fear factor" president who tries to sell his irresponsible agenda by scaring the voters. "The fear factor has become the overriding strategic approach that this administration uses," Clinton complained to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. The likely 2008 presidential candidate told the paper that Bush has used scare tactics to rally public support on issues ranging from U.S. policy in Iraq to privatization of Social Security. On Iraq Clinton griped that Bush had even botched the election process, saying that regional balloting...
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Hillary Clinton on Environment Supports oil reserve release & fund conservation Q: Do you support conserving energy?A: I’ve spoken about an energy policy that would include conservation tax credits that the Republicans have blocked. The administration has put forth an energy policy that we couldn’t get through that Republican leadership that my opponent is part of. We need a new Congress. I was pleased when the president did release some oil from the reserve. So we have work to do and it needs to be led by Democrats who understand that we shouldn’t be beholden to big oil. Source:...
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WASHINGTON - Tomorrow night, with the nation's capital awash in inaugural events, Sen. Hillary Clinton will be delivering a high-profile speech in Boston about politics and youth. She is the keynote speaker at a fundraiser for a group headed by outspoken Boston minister, Rev. Eugene Rivers. Aides to Clinton, a possible Democratic presidential contender in 2008, said she agreed to give the speech a long time ago and said nothing should be read into the timing.
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