Fate of Petters freedom put off another day, three to plead guilty

Tom Petters, former Petters Group Worldwide CEO and millionaire, will have to wait until later today for the judge to rule on Petters' bail. Petters is charged with fraud in an alleged multimillion-dollar investment scheme for more than a decade. He appeared in court Tuesday. WCCO is also reporting that two colleagues and an employee plan to plead guilty today and testify against him.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Keyes heard testimony during a nearly three-hour hearing. Keyes said he would take the case under advisement and issue a ruling Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

Here is the WCCO video with the report:

The hearing brought in some interesting details to the case which continues to unfold each day. Read our previous reports on Blotter.

Here are some of the most interesting excerpts from the hearing:

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Marti argued Petters should remain in custody because he is a flight risk.

"Mr. Petters is a con man," Marti said, "an over $3 billion con man." Marti added that if convicted on all of the charges, Petters faces life in prison.

Defense attorney Jon Hopeman disagreed, arguing that Petters should be confined to his home in Wayzata and placed on an electronic monitoring bracelet. Hopeman also suggested that Petters check in with authorities three times a day, give up his cell phone, have no text-messaging, no Internet use and undergo a physical evaluation about his use of medications and undergo an alcohol evaluation.

Hopeman said, "If he runs, they'll catch him."

Hopeman also said Petters is not a flight risk because he has strong ties and family in Minnesota, including two young sons — ages 3 and 1 — at his Wayzata home, his parents, brothers and sisters.

Earlier in witness testimony, Marti played a recorded phone call between Petters and Robert White, who is also charged in the case. In that phone call, the two discussed ways of leaving the country.

At one point, Petters suggested that White leave the country by sailing his boat to the Caribbean.

In a Sept. 8 phone call, Petters said, "The only thing that makes me think there is some divine intervention ... there is no possibility we could have got away with this for so long."

Keep him locked up. He can still lounge in his luxury mansion to plan his magic trick disappearance. A worldwide search for a lost billionaire would make this story a lot of fun though.