Second Ex-Owner Of Refco Gets 10-Year Sentence For Fraud

New York, NY (AHN) - A Manhattan federal court sentenced the former co-owner of commodities brokerage firm Refco Inc. to 10 years in prison on Thursday for defrauding the buyers of the company in 2004.

U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald handed the sentence to Tone N. Grant, 64, of Chicago following his conviction by a federal jury on April 17 on charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.

Grant and former Refco co-owner Phillip R. Bennett hid their company's debts of $430 million when they sold it to Thomas H. Lee Partners in August 2004 for $$1.9 billion. The debts, which Bennett and Grant transferred to accounts from 1999 to 2005 and made to appear as debts owed to Refco, was discovered in October 2005, two months after the firm went public.

The revelation led to the fall of Refco's stock value. A week later, one of the world's largest commodities brokerage firm with 2,400 employees in 14 countries was forced to file for bankruptcy.

Bennett was sentenced to 16 years in prison on July 3.