UPDATE 2-Contentious NY Refco jury reaches partial verdict

* Partial verdict in trial of ex-Refco lawyer

* Guilty of five counts, mistrial on nine others

* Juror accuses another of 'cut off finger' threat
(Adds details of counts, Refco executives in prison)

By Grant McCool

NEW YORK, July 10 (Reuters) - A former lawyer was found
guilty on Friday of a broad conspiracy in the fraud that caused
the 2005 collapse of commodities broker Refco Finance Holdings
LLC [RFXCQF.UL] in a partial verdict by a jury whose
deliberations became heated this week.

The Manhattan federal court jury ruled that longtime
outside Refco counsel Joseph Collins was guilty in five out of
14 counts in the indictment over the $2.4 billion fraud, with
nine counts declared a mistrial.

The jury began deliberations on July 1, but the jurors
became contentious on Wednesday, according to a court
transcript of a juror note made public on Thursday, with one
juror accusing another of threatening to cut off his finger.

Before accepting the partial verdict, U.S. District Court
Judge Robert Patterson noted the "acrimony" that had occurred
in the jury room and asked each panel member to confirm their
decision in open court.

One juror, a 48-year-old financial specialist who asked not
to be identified, told reporters after the verdict that the
juror who wrote the note "had a tendency to point his fingers
at people. When he did it to her, she just lost it."

According to a court transcript, the juror wrote in a note
to the jury foreman that another juror "In a loud and
belligerent manner ... threatened to 'cut off your (my)
finger.'"

He said she made the statement twice and also said: "I will
have my husband take care of you."

Collins was charged in a 14-count indictment last year on
charges of fraudulently trying to obtain hundreds of millions
of dollars in revolving lines of credit.

The 12-person jury found him guilty of conspiracy to commit
securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering and
making false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. He was also found guilty of two other counts of
securities fraud and two other counts of wire fraud.

Collins, of Winnetka, Illinois, is out on bail. He is
scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 3, when he faces a possible
maximum of five years imprisonment on the conspiracy conviction
and 20 years each on the other counts.

In the Refco fraud, former Chief Executive Officer Phillip
Bennett is serving a 16-year prison sentence and former
President Tone Grant is serving a 10-year prison term.

The case is USA v Collins 07-01170 in U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan)
(Reporting by Grant McCool and Edith Honan, editing by Matthew
Lewis)