Phil Bennett’s comeuppance cometh today
Former Refco chief executive officer Phillip R. Bennett gets his at 11 am this morning, when he appears before US District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald for sentencing on charges related to his role in the Oct. 2005 collapse of the futures brokerage and crime syndicate. While eligible for a sentence of 315 years and a $2.4 billion restitution order, the kindly folks at the Probation Service are recommending 20 years for the 58-year-old.
According to a statistically bogus poll of NakedShorts readers, a plurality—70 per cent—are looking for a punishment at the high end of the range, although a surprising (at least here) number—almost 20 per cent—chose the “3 months probation and $30 restitution” option.
The latest sentencing-related court filings add only some small points of color, with the defense ladling on the syrup of his sudden urge to cooperate with civil litigants seeking recovery of Refco-related losses. Including a hint that he might have turned on his old buddy Christopher Sugrue:
Mr. Bennett has had a very productive meeting with counsel for the Joint Liquidators of Minus Funds, an entity that went bankrupt in the wake of the collapse of Refco and is now seeking hundreds of millions of dollars for defrauded investors, in suits filed against a number of defendants associated with Refco.
The government? No sale.
...the information Bennett is providing to the plaintiffs is colored by the circumstances of his “cooperation”:
- The significant incentive to lie to the civil plaintiffs by falsely inculpating his codefendants in order to gain the letters...that he has submitted to the Court;
- unlike a cooperating witness, Bennett faces little risk of detection or punishment if he lies to the civil litigants;
- unlike with a cooperating witness, there is no assurance that such “cooperation” will continue until completion (that is, after he is sentenced on July 3);
- unlike with a cooperating witness, there is no opportunity for a credibility determination by a neutral party, such as the Court, or by a party whose interest is aligned with a truth-seeking function, such as the Government; and
- unlike with a cooperating witness, there is no way to accurately assess the value of the cooperation after it has been completed. In other words, under the circumstances, and unlike a cooperating defendant, Bennett has every incentive to lie with little worry of having to suffer the consequences of having done so...
...Furthermore, even with respect to his so-called cooperation, it appears that Bennett has been less than fully candid in the single deposition he has given...
[Emphasis added]
It will be interesting to see, in light of recent developments, whether Judge Buchwald allows Bennett to remain on bail. Unlike Bayou founder Scamuel Israel III, Bennett has been accompanied by an ankle bracelet since his arrest in Oct. 2005, and his leash was tightened further after his guilty plea in February, when he was ordered to choose between his Park Avenue penthouse, or his Gladstone, NJ, palace. He chose the palace, doubtless to bolster his attorney’s claim that, at heart, he’s just a simple goose-botherer, and not one of the biggest thieves in financial history.
Reply Memorandum of Phillip R. Bennett
US v. Phillip R. Bennett
Jun. 19 2008
Response to Reply Memorandum of Phillip R. Bennett
US v. Phillip R. Bennett
Jun. 30 2008
Earlier on NakedShorts
July 3 fireworks for Refco boss
Jun. 13 2008
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