NEW YORK: Rubenstein & Associates is handling the media and crisis communications duties for Refco, the embattled financial services firm that filed for bankruptcy last week.
The company's Chapter 11 filing, which listed close to $50 billion in debt, was the denouement of a precipitous slide sparked by the revelation earlier this month that CEO Phillip Bennett had improperly concealed a $430 million debt he owed the company.
Marcia Horowitz, a senior EVP at Rubenstein working on the account, said the firm has worked with Refco for more than a year, predating its recent meltdown. She described the work as "general corporate PR."
Horowitz said that during the course of its work, Rubenstein handled the company's IPO last August, as well as the bankruptcy this month. Refco has not hired a separate financial-specialty firm.
"We have a pretty major business/financial group," she noted. "We've certainly handled bankruptcies before."
She declined to elaborate on the agency's communications strategy for the company as it moves toward breakup or liquidation.
