Former Refco Owner Convicted in $2.4 Billion Fraud Case

The former owner of one of the world's biggest commodities brokerages faces 85 years in prison after his conviction on charges of fraud that cost investors more than $1 billion.

Tone N. Grant, 62, of Chicago, was convicted of all five counts Thursday in connection with a $2.4 billion scheme to defraud investors at Refco Inc.

Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 7 when, in addition to a prison sentence, Grant could be asked to pay millions in fines. He remained free on bail.

Prosecutors targeted the company after learning that Refco in the mid-1990s sustained hundreds of millions in losses and orchestrated an elaborate scheme to cover them up.

Prosecutors said Grant conspired with others to transfer debts to accounts that made it seem as if they were debts owed to Refco.

Former CEO Phillip Bennett, of Gladstone, N.J., and former chief financial officer, Robert Trosten, of Sarasota, Fla., both pleaded guilty in February and await sentencing.

The plot unraveled in October 2005, just two months after Refco went public. Refco's stock plummeted and it was forced into bankruptcy court a week later.

Prosecutors say Bennett and Grant directed a series of transactions every year from 1999 through 2005 to hide losses from auditors and investors.

Refco at one time employed some 2,400 employees in 14 countries.

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