CHICAGO (AP) -- Refco Inc., one of the nation's largest futures brokerage firms, will pay $8 million to settle claims that it gave a California money manager virtual independence in trading that resulted in $100 million in investor losses. The Chicago-based firm, without admitting wrongdoing, agreed to pay a $6 million cash penalty to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and $1 million for an industry study of how firms keep track of orders, according to the settlement announced Monday. Separately, Refco agreed to pay $1 million to the Chicago Board of Trade in a fine related to the same case. Beverly Hills, Calif., financial adviser Jay Goldinger has been accused of distributing false reports to investors after betting incorrectly on whether interest rates would rise or fall. Throughout 1995, Goldinger was allowed to place thousands of orders for Treasury bond futures and options contracts without identifying whom those orders were for, an investigation found. After the orders were executed, the broker assigned the trades to whatever customer accounts he chose, allowing him to decide winners and losers, according to the CFTC complaint. The CFTC had accused Refco of being too lax at keeping an eye on Goldinger's activities as a registered independent introducing broker. ``The order finds that Refco had indications of the improper handling of trades, which it failed to investigate properly,'' the CFTC said in a statement. Refco, which has had repeated run-ins with regulators over failing to properly supervise employees, said it views the settlement ``as an opportunity to resolve long-standing issues with regulatory authorities.'' Joe Murphy, hired in April as the company's new president, said a reshuffling of managers within the firm will strengthen oversight ``so that serious incidents such as this do not happen again.'' The firm still faces private lawsuits stemming from the case. Those lawsuits contend Refco earned between $45 million and $90 million in commissions on the trades. While large companies posted most of the losses, oversight of futures and options trading has become an increasingly thorny issue for regulators over the past few years as Internet trading firms have applied to do business and more average Americans have turned to the high-risk business for investments. The case has led to ongoing investigations at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Los Angeles U.S. attorney's office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Some of those investigations are of companies that suffered trading losses and are accused of failing to disclose them in a timely fashion. Constantine Mitsopoulos, who ran Refco's trading desk at the time of the violations, agreed in January to pay $1 million in a settlement with the Chicago Board of Trade that banned him from the exchange for 10 years. -=-=- 