Cancún

Today, Cancun once more lives and remains an attractive option to local and foreign tourists from all over the world. The company has also been sued by Sedona in connection with this trading. It was estimated that Cancun will be completely ready to face the demanding vacationist wave on December 2005. The company had been implicated in "naked" short sales on the stock of a company called Sedona Corp., disclosed that it was negotiating the SEC and hoped to reach a settlement that would likely include an injunction against future violations and "payment of a substantial civil penalty." Refco put $5 million in reserve in anticipation of the settlement. People from all social strata helped carry water bottles to donate money in special bank accounts that principal banks created. On May 16, 2005, the company disclosed that it had received a "Wells Notice," indicating it might face charges related to improper short selling at its Refco Securities unit and other matters. The people's response was immediate and impresionant. In 2001, the NFA ordered Refco to pay $43 million to 13 investors after their Refco broker used bogus order tickets to clear trades.

to aid people who suffered. The 1978 "cattle futures" trading scandal in which Hillary Clinton was allowed to trade large positions on inadequate capital, and possibly the allocation of profitable trading by others into her account, was played out in Refco accounts. There was an exhaustive campaign by the media that featured public figures, including the President Vicente Fox, actors, musicians, etc. According to the Wall Street Journal, it was "among the most cited brokers in the business, according to data provided by the NFA.". American actor Mel Gibson donated an important amount of money to help the people in distress. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the National Futures Association took action against Refco and its units more than 100 times since the firm's founding. reconstruction has been possible. Refco has not enjoyed a clean reputation with regulators.

However, thanks to the aid and support of local and state governments, the federal government, the Red Cross, and civil associations. He is currently under investigation by regulators who suspect he may have known something about Bennett's malfeasance. Many houses were devastated, and many jobs were lost. It is unclear why the firm's Chief Financial Officer had not spotted the loan, but the firm's previous CFO, Robert Trosten, left Refco in October 2004 with a $45 million payout that was not disclosed in the firm's IPO prospectus. It is estimated that after Wilma left Cancun, the local tourist industry lost over US $15 Million daily. This left the position on the books for James to find. All the Airport and Harbor Operations were cancelled between October 21 to the 25 due to the worst weather conditions. Apparently, in the fiscal quarter before the story broke, Bennett failed to execute his temporary Liberty Strategies-hidden repayment of debt.

Thousands of local and foreign tourists were hosted in improvised refuges. The apparent fraud was caught by Peter James, Refco's newly hired controller. Once the storm left the peninsula, some of the beautiful beaches of Cancun had been washed away. The Austrian National Bank and Financial Market Authority are investigating Bawag's involvement with Refco. It has been estimated that 95% of the tourism infrastructure was seriously damaged. The Refco stock that collateralized the loan is now worthless, and on November 16, Bawag joined the line of people suing Refco, demanding 350 million Euros plus punitive damages in compensation for the company's failure to disclose information that would have discouraged Bawag from lending the money to Bennett. The devastation was almost total with many of the principal roadways from the Hotel Zone completely flooded and damaged. The loan was granted on October 10, and Bennett used it to pay off the hidden $430 million.

At least three deaths have been reported, numerous people have disappeared, and the insured damage is estimated at between US$5 and US$8 billion. On October 5, before news of the hidden loan was made public, Phillip Bennett applied for a 350 million euro loan, to be collateralized with his shares in Refco. Wilma made several landfalls, with the most destructive effects felt in the Yucatán Peninsula, particularly in Cancun. In 1999, Bawag purchased 10% of Refco in a private transaction, and had an outstanding loan of 75 million euros to Refco at the time the firm collapsed. The hurricane began accelerating in the early morning hours of October 23, exiting the northeastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula and entering the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 2 storm. Group, an Austrian bank that lent Bennett the money to repay Refco. Some portions of the Yucatán Peninsula experienced hurricane force winds for well over 24 hours. Ross Capital is run by Wolfgang Flottl, whose father used to run Bawag P.S.K.

The eye slowly drifted northward, with the center passing just to the west of Cancún, Quintana Roo. Ross Capital has also been named by the Wall Street Journal's anonymous sources as one of the firms with losses that somehow led to Bennett's $430 million debt. Portions of the island of Cozumel experienced the calm eye of Wilma for several hours with some blue skies and sunshine visible at times. If Refco did suffer a loss, I am confident that it was quite minimal relative to the $460 million receivable said to have been a key link in the firm’s debacle, or to the actual sums that the principals and key players of the firm took out many years later." The story in the Journal implies that Refco settled Niederhoffer's debt for positions that were worth less than he owed them, or perhaps that they accrued trading losses unwinding those positions. The hurricane's eye first passed over the island of Cozumel, and then made an official landfall near Playa del Carmen in the state of Quintana Roo at around midnight on October 22 EDT with winds near 140 mph. I don't know how much money Refco received for these assets, or how it accounted for the transaction, or whether it ended up with a profit or loss. On October 21, Hurricane Wilma made landfall on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, with winds in excess of 150 mph. "Refco received considerable assets from us as part of our agreement.

At its peak, it was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic basin and the tenth most intense globally, with the lowest atmospheric pressure ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere of 882 millibars (26.05 inHg) at sea level, exceeding the record previously held by Hurricane Gilbert that also impacted the Peninsula of Yucatán some years ago. "There were no debts, loans, or any other financial obligations left open between us," Niederhoffer said. It was also the third Category 5 hurricane of the season, beating the records set by the 1960 and 1961 seasons. 29, 1997, in the presence of two major law firms and under the close scrutiny of regulators. Wilma was the twenty-first named storm, twelfth hurricane, and sixth major hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Niederhoffer said on his Web site in response to these news articles that Refco wanted to take over the assets in his accounts and assume all the liabilities in order to meet capital requirements, and that he and Refco signed a formal agreement to that effect on Oct. Cancún is served by Cancún International Airport. Though no detailed report on Bennett's transactions has been made public, anonymous sources cited by the Wall Street Journal and other publications have stated that the debt stemmed from losses in as many as 10 customer trading accounts, including that of Ross Capital, and the widely reported October 27, 1997, trading losses of hedge fund manager Victor Niederhoffer.

Mayan dialects are also spoken between some workers and people born in the Yucatán peninsula. The hearing on Refco's request is scheduled for February 14. The main language in Cancún is Spanish, although English is widely spoken throughout the tourist areas. On January 25, 2006, Refco asked the bankruptcy court to approve appointment of Christie's auction house to sell Refco's prized art collection, which includes photographs by Charles Ray and Andy Warhol. Here and there in the hotel zone are some ancient ruins. The purchased Refco units will cease the use of the Refco name on Monday, November 28th. Cancún's hotel zone also has an interactive aquarium where visitors can see the marine diversity of the area, swim with dolphins and feed sharks. The company is an arm of the UK-based Man Group.

The temperatures are typically between 26°C and 36°C (78.8°F and 96.8°F). The company's bankruptcy auction of its commodities and futures business ended on November 10th, with the final purchaser being announced as Man Financial, a rival in the commodities and futures fields. The temperature of the city is warm, moderated by the marine breeze which circulates through its avenues. Lee Partners, Grant Thornton, Credit Suisse First Boston, and Goldman Sachs. International brands in Downtown area are Radisson Hacienda Cancún, Best Western Plaza Caribe, Oasis America. As of October 27, shareholders of Refco have filed class action lawsuits against Refco, Thomas H. There are also many clubs for all types of people, including gay clubs like Karamba or Glow, but the hotels are more accessible to all types of travelers, including some with lower rates. Lee Partners, L.P., a highly regarded buyout fund, and the reputation of its managers has been similarly sullied.

Downtown Cancún gives us a different aspect. Their largest private investor was Thomas H. The drinking age in Mexico is 18; while in the United States, it is 21. Their auditors, Grant Thornton, and the investment banks that handled the IPO, Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America Corp., all supposedly completed due diligence on the company, and all missed the CEO's hiding $430 million in bad debts. For just about all of these students, drinking alcohol is usually the reason why they come to Cancún. Refco had sold shares to the public in a public offering only two months before revealing the apparent fraud. Around March and April, Cancún experiences a flood of college students (usually from the United States) who travel to Cancún to party. Though of much smaller size, the regulatory impact of the scandal will be larger than for probably any other corporate failure except for Enron.

Downtown is home to less expensive places to shop like Walmart, Comercial Mexicana and Soriana, not to mention several flea markets like the one in the hotel zone. However, the bankruptcy judge in charge of the case decided that the break-up fee was unjustified due to the other interested parties not demanding a similar fee, leading to the Flowers group withdrawing their bid. The hotel zone tends to be rather expensive as it is aimed at visitors and relies on the all inclusive hotels to keep them all in this area allowing prices to soar. These offers were for a time rebuffed, as the Flowers-led group would receive a "break-up" fee if Refco were to sell itself to one of these other parties. The hotel zone is one of the most exclusive internationally, with upmarket restaurants, bars, and the like which have catered for quite a number of the rich and famous. However, other bidders have emerged, including Interactive Brokers and Dubai Investments, the investment division of the country of Dubai, who have offered to buy the entire company. Four million visitors arrive each year in an average of 190 flights daily. LLC for about $768 million.

In Cancún there are about 140 hotels with 24,000 rooms and 380 restaurants. Flowers & Co. He discusses this and other issues at length on his website, http://www.cafecancun.com. Refco also announced a tentative agreement to sell its regulated futures and commodities business, which isn't covered by the bankruptcy filing, to a group led by J.C. "You can see the bottom of the Caribbean off Cancún in satellite photographs," Siegel says. However, the company subsequently submitted a revised document, claiming it had $16.5 billion in assets and $16.8 billion in liabilities. The underground water table is beginning to show symptoms of contamination, but by the standards of most populated areas in the United States the water is still relatively clean. At the time, it declared assets of around $49 billion, which would have made it the fourth largest bankruptcy filing in American history.

Although approximately 75% of the city has public sewer lines, many homes rely on septic tanks. filed for chapter 11 for a number of its businesses, to seek protection from its creditors on Monday, October 17, 2005. Sewage treatment is another danger point, he says. Refco, Inc. There has obviously been environmental damage and the situation could deteriorate rapidly, he reports, but at present (February 2005) Cancún's main problem is a breakdown of garbage collection and disposal as a result of political conflicts that will hopefully be solved by a new administration elected February 6, 2005. Before the halt, the shares were trading for more than $28 per share, and as of October 19, they had dropped (on the pink sheets) to $0.80 per share. Although some environmentalists claim that Cancún is an environmental disaster, Siegel says that is not true. As of October 19, trading of Refco's shares has been halted on the New York Stock Exchange, which is moving to permanently delist the shares.

The city Cancun and its flourishing tourism industry were heavily damaged by Hurricane Wilma, which hit the area on October 22, 2005. His lawyer has said that Bennett plans to fight the charges. A growing number are from the rest of America and Europe. mail, interstate commerce, and securities exchanges to lie to investors. Most 'cancunenses' here are from Yucatán and other Mexican states. Bennett was arrested and charged with one count of securities fraud for using U.S. The city has grown rapidly over the past thirty years to become a city of approximately 750,000 residents, covering the former island and the nearby mainland. This announcement triggered a number of investigations, and on October 12 Mr.

Even outlets of restaurant chains such as McDonald's and Domino's Pizza are Mexican-owned. should no longer be relied upon.". They do not usually own the hotels themselves. LLC and Refco Finance Inc. Some observers believe that the resort is foreign-owned because they are confused by the hotel operating companies, which are international companies that supply administration and marketing services. 28, 2005, and May 31, 2005, taken as a whole, for each of Refco Inc., Refco Group Ltd. The figure is close to 100% for the mainland. 28, 2004, Feb.

Despite initial skepticism that forced the Mexican government to finance the first eight hotels, Cancún soon attracted investors from all over the world, but approximately 70% of the Hotel Zone properties are owned by Mexicans, many of them local residents, Siegel says. 28, 2003, Feb. Siegel who was the translator of Fernando Martí's "Cancun, Fantasy of Bankers," municipal authorities have struggled to provide public services for the constant influx of people, as well as to control squatters and irregular developments, which now occupy an estimated ten to fifteen percent of the mainland area on the fringes of the city, he says. 28, 2002, Feb. Unfortunately, the original very sensible master plan was repeatedly modified and, on the mainland, often ignored. As a result, Refco said, "its financial statements, as of, and for the periods ended, Feb. Development of Cancun started in 1970 and grew rapidly in the 1980s. The law requires that such financial connections between corporation and its own top officers be shown as what is known as a related-party transaction in various financial statements.

The belief that Cancun means "nido de viboras" (nest of snakes) is modern folklore, according to according to long-time resident Jules Siegel, author of the Cancun User's Guide. On October 20, they announced plans to sue Refco. It is probable that some Yucatecan or Mexican Mayanist wrote the name as Cancu'en, which was turned into Cancún by someone at the predecessor of Fonatur, the Mexican government tourism development fund that created Cancun. Bennett secretly controlled. The romanization of Mayan words varies, but it is common to use an apostrophe to indicate a kind of glottal stop. It is not yet clear if Liberty knew it was hiding sham transactions; management of the fund has claimed that they believed it was borrowing from one Refco subsidiary and lending to another Refco sub, and not lending to an entity that Mr. Cancuen refers to a snake totem, usually identified with Kukulcan or Quetzalcoatl (the Plumed Serpent). Bennett's company then paid the money back to Refco, leaving Liberty as the apparent borrower when financial statements were prepared.

There's also a site in Guatemala called Cancuen. He arranged at the end of every quarter for a Refco subsidiary to lend money to a hedge fund called Liberty Corner Capital Strategy, which then lent the money to Refco Group Holdings. The earliest known reference to Cancun called it Cancuen. Apparently, Bennett had been buying bad debts from Refco in order to prevent the company from needing to write them off, and was paying for the bad loans with money borrowed by Refco itself. In the case of a two-syllable word, you would only use an accent to indicate that the stress falls on the first syllable, as in López. Bennett, in the amount of approximately US$430 million. In Spanish, the accent usually falls on the second syllable. Refco said that through an internal review over the preceding weekend it discovered a receivable owed to the company by an unnamed entity that turned out to be controlled by Mr.

The Spanish is not really correct either. Bennett had hidden $430 million in bad debts from the company's auditors and investors, and had agreed to take a leave of absence. This is probably a result of the fact that English-language type faces available in the early days of Cancun did not have accented characters, or the operators did not know how to access them because the keyboard codes were different from the ones they were accustomed to using. entered crisis on Monday, October 10, 2005 when it announced that its chief executive officer and chairman, Phillip R. Although many international publications now spell Cancun as Cancún, in the area itself it is usually Cancún in Spanish and Cancun in English. Refco, Inc. On the opposite side of the island from the Caribbean Sea is Nichupte Lagoon, which is used for boat and snorkelling tours of the area. .

A causeway was built to link Cancun to the mainland, and an international airport was built, along with what was at first a model city for workers, complete with housing, schools and medical facilities. Investors had been pleased to buy shares because of Refco's history of profit growth -- they had reported 33% average annual gains in earnings over the four years before their initial public offering. The government of Mexico decided to develop a tourist resort on Cancun, which was originally financed by a USD $27 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank. It closed the day over 25% higher than that, valuing the entire company at about $3.5 billion. In the early 1950s Cancun was an almost unpopulated and undeveloped island just off the Caribbean Sea coast of the Yucatán peninsula, home to three caretakers of a coconut plantation and small Pre-Columbian ruins of the Maya civilization. Refco became a public company on August 11, 2005 with the sale of $26.5 million shares to the public at $22. The mainland downtown commercial section (Cancún City), connected to the island by two bridges, has broad avenues lined with whitewashed shops, restaurants, and hotels. Though these filings have since been disowned by the company, they are probably roughly accurate in showing the firm's level of leverage.

Cancún is divided into two parts: The narrow 23-kilometer-long (14-mile) island section (Cancún Island) is lined with modern beachfront hotels surrounded by the Bahía de Mujeres (Bay of Women), the Caribbean Sea, and the Nichupte and Bojorquez lagoons. The firm's balance sheet at the time of the collapse showed about $75 billion in assets and a roughly equal amount in liabilities. The beaches are almost 100 percent limestone; the porous quality of the limestone makes for cool sand even under the intense tropical sun. Friedman and Co." Prior to its collapse in October, 2005, the firm had over $4 billion in approximately 200,000 customer accounts, and it was the largest broker on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The average temperature in Cancún is 27° C (80° F) with more than 240 days of sunshine, and rain is rare, with late August through early October being the rainy season. It was founded in 1969 as "Ray E. . Refco (OTCBB: RFXCQ) is a New York-based financial services company, primarily known as a broker of commodities and futures contracts.

It is the municipal seat of Benito Juárez municipality and a world renowned tourist resort. Cancún is a coastal city in Mexico's easternmost state, Quintana Roo. Wichita, Kansas, United States. Miami, Florida, United States.