Avidor

Tom Petters: F-bomb city.

​Convicted Ponzi schemer Tom Petters, settling in for what amounts to a life sentence in a federal penitentiary for screwing investors out of billions of dollars, isn't guilty.

No, he's a victim! He's misunderstood! He's selling a fucking dream, for cryin' out loud!

That's what he said while Department of Justice officials listened in, courtesy of the wire worn by his former associate and government informant Deanna Coleman.

More >>

Image courtesy Wikipedia..

The most expensive item: A robe Ali wore after beating Leon Spinks.

​A Wisconsin collector of Muhammad Ali memorabilia recently came across an interesting find: a box of Ali artifacts previously owned by one of Minnesota's most famous modern convicts, Tom Petters.More >>

Ken Avidor.

Tom Petters: Worst boss ever.

​Tom Petters must be one of the worst bosses of all time.

First, the guy gets busted in a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme that makes anything Petters-related an epic negative on the resume. Now, his ex-employees have to give up the one perk left: The dirty money.

More >>

Photo via Wikipedia

The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth -- The Big House -- is Tom Petters' new address

​Ponzi schemer Tom Petters is headed for The Big House: the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. And unless his legal team can pull a rabbit out of its hat and win an appeal, it may be the last address he'll ever have.

The 53-year-old former Wayzata businessman with a palatial home on Lake Minnetonka, was sentenced in April to 50 years behind bars for orchestrating a $3.6 billion Ponzi scheme.

More >>

Headed for the federal pen

​Tom Petters is headed for the Big House. The one-time high-flying millionaire sentenced to 50 years behind bars for orchestrating a $3.7 billion Ponzi scheme is cooling his heels in the Federal Transfer Center at Will Rogers airport in Oklahoma City. Next stop is a federal penitentiary.

Petters is appealing his December conviction. Meanwhile, the latest wrinkle in the case involves former Petters partner Larry Reynolds. He provided key testimony in the prosecution's case against Petters -- and now it looks like he tried to hide some of his ill-gotten gains from the court appointed receiver. Better yet, he started squirreling away assets before the trial was even over. Stand up guy, that Reynolds.

Petters, in prison on a Ponzi conviction, funded an ethics program

​The clawback in the Tom Petters Ponzi nightmare continues: Miami University of Ohio has paid $5 million to the court-appointed receiver in the case.

Petters, convicted last November of running a multi-billion dollar fraud operation and sentenced to 50 years in prison in April, had pledged $14 million of his ill-gotten gains to the school. The $5 million represents funds the university actually received.

What did the money pay for? The John T. Petters Center for Leadership, Ethics and Skills Development.

Maybe if Petters ever gets out from behind bars he can sign up for a few classes. Here's the full statement from the university:

More >>

Now we have the names of Tom Petters' victims

​No investor lost more money to convicted Ponzi schemer Tom Petters than Ritchie Capital Management: $165 million.

No one lost less in the $3.65 billion scheme than Louise Remley and her $9,420.

Their losses, along with those of 432 others, are listed as part of a restitution order released yesterday by prosecutors in federal court.

Here's the list. It includes investors all over the country, some of whom lost tens of millions of dollars.

The order was released yesterday as part of Petters' sentence; he's already serving a 50-year prison term.

More >>

​Chalk up a win for the victims of Tom Petters' $3.5 million Ponzi scheme: His 6,300-square-foot home at 655 Bushaway Road in Wayzata is under contract to a buyer for $5 million, according to papers filed by the bankruptcy trustee in the case.

While $5 million may sound like a lot, it's actually less than the original asking price of $8.25 million, as well as the most recent price cut to $6.25 million.

Here's a look at what Petters may remember from the good old days, as he starts serving his 50-year prison sentence:

​

​While convicted Ponzi schemer Tom Petters asks that taxpayers shell out for his latest legal expenses, a court-appointed receiver is trying to sell off assets related to the fraud to help make Petters' victims whole.

Yesterday, the receiver filed papers saying that a buyer had been found for the yacht owned by Petters associate Bob White, and that the two contemplated using as a getaway vehicle when their house of cards began to crumble and the law was closing in.

We'll quote the Pioneer Press:

In fall 2008, as a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme run out of Minnetonka-based Petters Co. Inc. was unraveling, White cooperated with investigators and got Tom Petters on the phone. The two discussed passports and other topics related to leaving the country -- possibly on the Spirit, which was docked in Chesapeake Bay.

Petters has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Ken Avidor

Petters hears the judge sentence him to a life behind bars

​Tearing a page from the Denny Hecker instructional manual on getting the public to cover the costs of private enterprise deceit, convicted Ponzi schemer Tom Petters filed notice on Tuesday in the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that he intends to appeal his conviction -- and he wants taxpayers to foot the bill.

Petters, found guilty in December of running a $3.7 billion Ponzi scheme, and sentenced last week to 50 years behind bars, says he's broke. Corporate insurance that covered his criminal defense costs won't pay for an appeal. And he wants one of his defense attorneys, Eric Riensche, to defend him on the government's dime.