March 16, 2006

Bloomberg is reporting more trouble at Refco Inc., now including the possibility of as much as $525 million in fake bonds held offshore accounts. More here. Significantly, all this is after SOX, and after Refco had gone through the intensive scrutiny involved in an IPO. If all this is true, it's yet another indication that no amount of regulation can prevent fraud by the most determined fraudsters. It can, though, catch law-abiding firms in a spiral of regulatory costs.