Ex-Refco Lawyer Gets Year for Aiding $2.4 Billion Fraud

Joseph Collins, Refco Inc.’s former outside lawyer, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for helping ex-Chief Executive Officer Phillip Bennett and other company officials defraud investors of $2.4 billion.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan today also imposed two years of supervised release on Collins, who was convicted at a retrial last year after his 2009 fraud conviction was reversed. In passing sentence, Preska cited the defendant’s history of charitable works.