Criminal Justice
Refco Execs Lied to Me, Mayer Brown Partner Testifies
Posted Jun 19, 2009, 11:53 am CST
By Martha Neil
Speaking forcefully and looking jury members straight in the eyes as he testified yesterday in federal court in Manhattan about his own role in a $2.4 billion corporate fraud case, a Mayer Brown partner said executives of Refco Inc. lied to him about financial issues underlying the loan transactions on which he worked.
Joseph Collins, 59, is charged with conspiracy, multiple fraud counts and making a false Securities and Exchange Commission filing. But he said he worked with the numbers his client gave him and never knew Refco was, for example, concealing debt as he assigned an associate to draft documents needed to apply for a revolving line of bank credit, reports the New York Law Journal.
"I didn't personally spend a lot of time. I delegated them," Collins said of the loan matters on which he worked for Refco. "I didn't structure them. I didn't negotiate them. I didn't talk to customers about them. They just didn't require much of my time."
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: "Ex-Mayer Brown Partner Knew Zip re Client’s $2.4B Fraud, His Lawyer Says"
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