Former Refco CEO sentenced

The former chief executive of Refco Inc., blamed for the collapse of one of the world's largest commodities brokerages, was sentenced to 16 years in prison by a judge who decried the "staggeringly arrogant" greed of white-collar criminals.

Phillip Bennett, 59, a British citizen living in Gladstone, N.J., had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and other charges for the eight-year fraud.

U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan said the 20 separate crimes Bennett admitted he had committed and the $1.5 billion in losses he had caused were enough to explain her ruling.

Coke to settle fraud lawsuit

Coca-Cola Co. agreed to settle a fraud lawsuit in which investors said they lost $1.75 billion after the soft-drink maker withheld information to boost its stock price.

The $137.5-million settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, ends an eight-year battle.

"We maintain these allegations are without merit and no admittance of wrongdoing is a part of this settlement," Coca-Cola said.

Investors claimed that Japanese bottlers were forced to take excess syrup to boost sales, a practice called channel stuffing. The method helped Coca-Cola overstate income and artificially inflate its share price, according to the complaint, filed by a union pension fund.

Countrywide investors lose

Countrywide Financial Corp. investors suing over Bank of America Corp.'s $2.5- billion buyout lost an attempt to stop a settlement of claims that company officials sold the largest U.S. home lender too cheaply.

Delaware Chancery Judge John Noble refused to put on hold a settlement of lawsuits alleging that Countrywide directors' miscues damaged the Calabasas lender and that the board failed to get a fair price.

Pension funds for state employees and teachers in Arkansas, Colorado, Mississippi and Louisiana are suing Countrywide directors in federal court in California. The funds asked Noble to throw out the Delaware settlement, which doesn't provide any money to shareholders, saying it would wipe out their claims.

PUBLISHING

Tribune Co. signed a $300- million asset-backed commercial paper credit agreement with Barclays Bank, using $225 million to repay a term loan.