Ex-Refco CEO Bennett Sentenced To 16 Years in Prison for Fraud
By Chad Bray
Wall Street Journal
NEW YORK -- Phillip R. Bennett, Refco Inc.'s former chief executive, was sentenced to 16 years in prison Thursday after he pleaded guilty to criminal charges in a scheme to hide the commodities broker's financial troubles.
At a hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan said white-collar defendants like 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.
"Quite a lot of what passes itself off as dialogue about our society consists of people trying to justify their own choices. Let me propose that if your beliefs or convictions matter more to you than people—if they require you to act as though you were a worse person than you are—you may have lost perspective."
Timothy Kreider, We Learn Nothing, 2012