NEW YORK – The former head of Refco Inc., blamed for the collapse of one of the world's largest commodities brokerages, was sentenced to 16 years in prison Thursday 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.

Bennett said he didn't mean to hurt anyone. His voice cracked when he apologized to his family for their “unimaginable agony.”

U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald 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.

“To sentence you, I don't have to paint you as a monster and I have no intention of doing so,” Buchwald said.

But she said Bennett and others like him who break the law in their zeal to be among the world's richest people are “staggeringly arrogant.”

“You and others like you play a truly high stakes poker game,” Buchwald said.

The judge told Bennett to remain at his New Jersey home until he reports to prison Sept. 4. She rejected a request by prosecutors that he be sent to prison immediately.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky urged the judge to impose a sentence of 16½ to 22 years in prison, saying Bennett had misled bankers and investors for eight years.

“This was stealing money plain and simple,” he said.

Brodsky said Bennett was driven by greed, eager to become one of the richest men in the world.

Defense lawyer Gary Naftalis said his client was contrite and had helped three sets of lawyers who are trying to find assets for investors.

“Did he do wrong things? Absolutely. Has he stood tall and admitted them? Yes he has,” Naftalis said.

Refco went public in August 2005. It filed for bankruptcy just weeks later – after disclosing that a $430 million debt owed to Refco by a firm controlled by Bennett had been concealed. The disclosure caused Refco's stock value to plummet.

Before he was sentenced, Bennett said he had the best of intentions when he made an “unacceptable and appalling error” in handling Refco's finances.

“In doing so, I not only broke the law, I put in harm's way the very people I intended to help,” he said.

Buchwald said restitution will be worked out at a later date.

The judge said that after he serves his sentence, Bennett will be deported to England, “a highly civilized, cultured and familiar country.”