Tom Petters fraud: Sixth person charged
Categories: Tom Petters
The dominos keep falling.
A sixth person has been charged in the Petters Group Worldwide ponzi scheme that allegedly bilked investors of several billion dollars.
The U.S. Attorney's Office charged James Wehmhoff, Petter's former chief accountant, with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns, according to KSTP.
Four of the defendants pleaded guilty, while former CEO and millionaire Tom Petters pleaded not guilty and awaits trial in jail.
According to the charges, Wehmhoff worked for Petters from July 2004 to Sept 2008, when prosecutors uncovered the alleged scheme. He prepared tax filings for Petters Group Worldwide and other business entities owned by the Wayzata businessman.
According to the criminal complaint, Wehmhoff was also responsible for the accounting of, and IRS filings related to, payments made by Petters Companies Inc. to third parties. He also prepared Petters' personal tax filings and allegedly falsely characterized millions of dollars of income as 'loans' to Petters, thus avoiding a hefty tax bill in 2005.Prosecutors say those loan documents were never even created and there is no evidence of accrued interest or repayment.
Will anyone else fall along with Petters? We wouldn't be surprised.
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