Refco ex-CEO pleads not guilty

NEW YORK - Refco Inc.'s former Chief Executive Phillip Bennett has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of conspiracy, fraud, and other charges.

Bennett, 57, is accused of hiding hundreds of millions of dollars in bad debts from Refco investors as the company went public in August.

No trial date was set in the hearing before a federal judge, but the next hearing will be held January 18.

Refco, which had been the largest US independent futures and commodities brokerage, filed for bankruptcy last month as the scandal prompted customers to abandon the firm.

Bennett, a British citizen, was charged with one count of securities fraud last month, initially accused of hiding about US$430 million he owed the company from investors and auditors ahead of the company's US$583 million initial public offering.

Investigations continued and on November 10 Bennett was indicted on eight charges over the accounting scandal.

Several of these counts hold penalties of 20 years jail.

Since filing for bankruptcy, Refco has been selling off its salvageable units.

It has agreed to sell its most valuable asset, its regulated futures brokerage, to Man Financial, the brokerage arm of London-listed hedge fund firm Man Group Plc, and some of its retail foreign exchange assets to an online retail foreign exchange broker, Forex Capital Markets LLC.

- REUTERS