1997-02-06
Briton with bloody nose ahead of Tiger Woods in Asian Classic Eds: RECASTS thruout with new quotes
(APW_ENG_19970206.0524)
1) Tiger Woods got off to a rough start Thursday in the dlrs 300,000 Asian Honda Classic _ but not as rough as the British national who finished first despite being knocked bloody by his partner's errant swing.
2) Woods, who shot a two-under-par 70, admitted he needs to raise his game to catch Lee Petters, playing for the United Arab Emirates, who leads his first tournament as a full-time professional with a six-under-par 66.
3) ``I made some mental mistakes as well as some physical ones,'' Woods said. ``But it's only one round and anything under par is a good start.''
4) Woods, an American whose mother is Thai, is making his first trip to Thailand since taking professional golf by storm last year.
5) ``This tournament is special because it's in the land of my mother's birth,'' he said.
6) Petters should also remember Thursday as special. As he walked off the 14th tee, his playing partner, Shakeep Hussain of Pakistan, who was taking a practice swing, caught him in the nose, splitting it open.
7) Petters, bleeding profusely, was knocked to the ground and stayed there several minutes, filling three towels with blood.
8) ``But after I got up I birdied the hole, so I told him to hit me again,'' Petters told reporters before heading to the hospital for stitches.
9) Woods, who quit on the 13th hole of Wednesday's pro-am because of heat exhaustion and food poisoning, said he was recovering but still feeling the effects of jet lag after arriving Tuesday night in Bangkok following a 20-hour flight from Los Angeles.
10) A couple of poor approach shots and some in-and-out putts frustrated the young star Thursday and kept him hovering near par.
11) With temperatures soaring to 35 degrees Celsius (90 F), Woods' gray golfing shirt was drenched in sweat before he teed off on the first hole.
12) But the heat couldn't defeat Tiger's troops. About 200 spectators, including his Thai mother, Kultida, and 300 members of the media followed him around the 6,417-meter (7,016-yard) Thai Country Club course in Bangna, a Bangkok suburb.
13) ``He's great,'' said 11-year-old Tanet Chuntaban, whose father brought him to the tournament to get a glimpse of Woods. ``I want to be just like him.''
14) Prayad Marksaeng, 31, who played in Woods' threesomes and finished the first round tied for second with American Clay Devers at a stroke behind Petters, said he wasn't rattled by the crowd because he was playing the course, not his famous opponent.
15) ``I was pleased to play with him,'' said Marksaeng, who is Thailand's top player and stands sixth on the Asian Professional Golf Association tour. ``He is an inspiration.''
16) But he said he was disappointed that after Woods finished putting, the crowds would walk away even though he hadn't finished his own putts.
17) Devers, 29, said the wind made Thursday tough, but ``a little luck and some strong approach shots really helped.''
18) Few people watched defending champion Steve Elkington of Australia, but he wasn't upset by all the attention paid to Woods.
19) ``We're used to it,'' said Elkington, who finished with a one-under-par 71. ``That's the way it should be. He's the man now.''
20) Woods is reportedly being paid dlrs 480,000 for his appearance.
2000-08-15
Skaneateles resident finishes Finger Lakes' row
(APW_ENG_20000815.0182)
1) A 44-year-old Skaneateles resident ended the last of his guide boat row across each lake in the Finger Lakes region on Tuesday.
2) ''I feel like I worked out in the lawn all day,'' Dave Petters said upon reaching the shore of Seneca Lake.
3) Two years ago Petters, a chiropractor who enjoys long-distance hiking, biking and now rowing, decided to row across Otisco, Skaneateles, Owasco, Cayuga, Keuka, Canandaigua, Honeoye, Canadice, Hemlock, Conesus and Seneca lakes.
4) He would row solo across each one, meeting his family at the end of a different lake at the end of each row.
5) He used his last row on Seneca Lake to raise nearly $500 for the SAVES ambulance service in Skaneateles.
6) Adirondack Guide Boat Co. in Vermont loaned him a guide boat for the trip.
7) After 36 miles and 11 lakes, Petters said he's developed an affection for the boat,'' which he says ''bobs like a cork and goes like an arrow.''
8) Each lake, Petters said, has a message. Seneca's, the longest, was perseverance, he said.
9) ''I was waiting for the lightning bolt or a revelation,'' he said. ''But I ended up thinking about how much my butt hurt or about that mosquito that wouldn't go away. The simple things took priority.''
10) Skaneateles is 16 miles southwest of Syracuse.
2005-01-08
Minnesota entrepreneur buying ailing Polaroid for $426 million
(APW_ENG_20050108.0121)
1) Twin Cities entrepreneur Tom Petters plans to buy Polaroid Holding Co. for $426 million (euro322.7 million), his company announced Friday.
2) Waltham, Massachusetts-based Polaroid, best known for its instant picture cameras and sunglasses, has seen digital photography badly erode its market share.
3) "I'm really excited about it," Petters said from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "It's a great brand. It's a brand that has stayed in consumers' minds."
4) The Minnetonka-based Petters Group Worldwide plans to absorb Polaroid into its consumer brands business, which sells electronics and other goods to major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy.
5) The two companies said they believe the deal will create a "global leader in imaging and consumer electronics" that will extend the Polaroid brand to products "for the digital age," such as plasma TVs.
6) Polaroid and Petters already have a relationship. For the past two years Petters Group has been a Polaroid licensee, putting the brand on DVD players and televisions.
7) Petters, 47, whose privately held company also owns the Fingerhut consumer catalog company and other specialty businesses, called the Polaroid deal his "biggest and probably the best one."
8) Polaroid introduced its first instant camera in 1948. Its sales peaked in 1991 with annual revenue of almost $3 billion (euro2.3 billion). Competition from digital picture technology, a hostile takeover attempt and a major patent challenge led Polaroid to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2001, with about $1 billion (euro760,000) in debt.
9) Polaroid's assets were sold for $255 million to a private equity affiliate of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. called One Equity Partners, which took the scaled-back Polaroid public again last spring.
10) The deal values Polaroid at $12.08 a share in cash, a 13 percent premium to the $10.70 per share it traded at before the announcement. One Equity still holds 53 percent of Polaroid's stock and supports the deal.
11) The deal requires shareholder and regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in the second quarter.
2005-04-28
Polaroid shareholders approve sale; retirees to receive $47 each
(APW_ENG_20050428.0038)
1) Polaroid shareholders approved the company's $426 million (euro329.72 million) sale to a Minnesota-based consumer products company, 3 1/2 years after the instant photography pioneer declared bankruptcy, blaming consumers' shift to digital photography.
2) The sale of Waltham-based Polaroid Holding Corp. was approved Wednesday at a meeting in New York City, with favorable ballots cast by holders of about 80 percent of the company's shares, Polaroid spokesman Skip Colcord said.
3) The sale to Minnetonka-based Petters Group Worldwide follows protracted negotiations to resolve Polaroid's $1 billion (euro770 million) debt and failed legal efforts by retirees to reinstate medical and life insurance benefits canceled when the Chapter 11 case was filed in Delaware.
4) More than 4,000 retirees last month began receiving checks for $47 (euro36.38) _ a one-time payment from a trust fund to compensate retirees for legal expenses.
5) "It's such a shame, because we got killed," said Peter Bass, a 72-year-old Lexington resident who retired 13 years ago after 35 years at Polaroid. Bass, who used his $47 to take his wife out for pizza, said he's considering searching for work to make ends meet _ as are many other Polaroid retirees.
6) "A lot of them are hurting," he said.
7) Retirees receive pension payments from a federal agency that took over the company's underfunded plan. Colcord declined to comment on retiree issues.
8) Meanwhile, executives who joined the company during bankruptcy stand to receive large payouts from the cash value of their stock and options. For example, Chairman Jacques A. Nasser stands to get $12.8 million (euro9.9 million); J. Michael Pocock, the CEO and president, is due $8.5 million (euro6.6 million), Polaroid spokesman Colcord said.
9) Nasser, a former CEO of Ford Motor Co., and Pocock joined Polaroid after a buyout firm, One Equity Partners, bought Polaroid for $237.7 million (euro184 million) in August 2002. One Equity, a private equity affiliate of JPMorgan Chase & Co., controlled 53 percent of the newly constituted company's shares.
10) The new company has no legal connection with the entity that went bankrupt.
11) Polaroid, which introduced its first instant camera in 1948, has seen its market share badly eroded by digital photography. Besides selling instant cameras and film, Polaroid sells photo accessories and sunglasses. Its sales peaked in 1991 with annual revenue of almost $3 billion (euro2.3 billion).
12) The company reported last month that its 2004 sales were $656 million (euro507.7 million).
13) Because Polaroid's net assets were worth far more than the $237.7 million (euro184 million) purchase price One Equity paid, the new company immediately booked a one-time gain of $122.6 million (euro94.89 million) when it opened its doors. One Equity Partners took the scaled-back Polaroid public again last year
14) The $426 million (euro329.7 million) sale to Petters Group Worldwide was announced in January.
15) The deal valued Polaroid at $12.08 a share in cash, a 13 percent premium to the $10.70 per share it traded at before the announcement.
16) Petters Group, headed by Minnesota entrepreneur Tom Petters, has said it plans to absorb Polaroid into its consumer brands business, which sells electronics and other goods to major retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. Inc. Petters' privately held company also owns the Fingerhut catalog company and other specialty businesses.
17) For the past three years Petters Group has been a Polaroid licensee, putting the Polaroid brand on DVD players and televisions. The company also sells products under the Sunbeam, Master Craft and Element Electronics brands.
18) Petters and Polaroid said they believe the deal will create a "global leader in imaging and consumer electronics" that will extend the Polaroid brand to products such as plasma TVs.
19) Polaroid's slide into bankruptcy followed a hostile takeover attempt that prompted employees to accept pay cuts. Polaroid also lost hundreds of millions of dollars amid the decline of its instant camera and film business and the failure of its digital printing efforts.
2008-04-13
Police say a Swedish trucker confessed to killing missing 10-year-old girl, another woman
(APW_ENG_20080413.0764)
1) Police say a Swedish truck driver has confessed to killing a 10-year-old girl who has been missing for a week, as well as another woman eight years ago.
2) Police superintendent Sven-Ake Petters says the 42-year-old man told police of the killings while being interrogated in the central city of Borlange.
3) The man then showed police where he had buried the girl in a nearby province.
4) The girl went missing after her soccer practice on April 5.
5) Petters told The Associated Press by telephone that the man also confessed Sunday to killing a 31-year-old Swedish woman in 2000, and that he has previously been jailed for other sex offenses. He did not identify the man by name or say how police came to suspect him.
2008-09-24
Federal authorities investigate Petters Group
(APW_ENG_20080924.1238)
1) Federal agents on Wednesday searched the headquarters of Petters Group Worldwide, which has Sun Country Airlines and Polaroid among its holdings.
2) FBI spokesman Paul McCabe confirmed that the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the IRS criminal investigative division and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service were all part of an ongoing investigation.
3) There have been no arrests, McCabe said.
4) In a written statement, company spokeswoman Andrea Miller said the investigation relates to one financial entity with which Petters is involved. She said the investigation does not involve Sun Country Airlines, Polaroid, uBid, Fingerhut or magazine group Great Waters Media -- all Petters companies.
5) "Petters Group Worldwide is cooperating fully with the investigation. The company will make additional information available as it is known," the statement read.
6) Wendy Blackshaw, a spokeswoman for Sun Country Airlines, said the airline has been told that its day-to-day operations are not affected by the investigation. Blackshaw said she knew no further details.
7) The company is named for founder and chairman Tom Petters, a well-known businessman in the Twin Cities and the company's chief executive. Messages also were left at the homes of Petters and other company executives, and for an attorney representing Petters Group Worldwide in a civil matter.
8) Petters has made a career of buying businesses, many of them well-known companies that have fallen on hard times, and seeking to turn them around. The company's holdings include Sun Country Airlines, catalog and online retailer Fingerhut and Polaroid.
9) Little financial data is available on the private companies, but Sun Country executives went before Minnesota lawmakers in June seeking more than $50 million in aid over two years to maintain regular service in the Twin Cities. The company blamed record high fuel costs.
2008-09-25
Federal authorities investigate Petters Group
(APW_ENG_20080925.0185)
1) Federal agents on Wednesday searched the headquarters of Petters Group Worldwide, which has Sun Country Airlines and Polaroid among its holdings.
2) FBI spokesman Paul McCabe confirmed that the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the IRS criminal investigative division and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service were all part of an ongoing investigation.
3) Employees were sent home from the company's Minnetonka, Minneapolis office for the day.
4) There had been no arrests, McCabe said.
5) Company spokeswoman Andrea Miller said the investigation relates to one financial entity with which Petters is involved.
6) "Petters has investments in a number of companies," Miller said. "We are not sure of the company exactly."
7) The company did say in a statement, however, that the investigation does not involve Sun Country Airlines, Polaroid, uBid (part of Enable Holdings, Inc.), catalog and online retailer Fingerhut or magazine group Great Waters Media -- all Petters companies.
8) "Petters Group Worldwide is cooperating fully with the investigation. The company will make additional information available as it is known," the statement read.
9) The company is named for founder and chairman Tom Petters, a well-known businessman in the Twin Cities and the company's chief executive.
10) Petters has made a career of buying businesses, some of them well-known companies that have fallen on hard times, and seeking to turn them around.
11) Petters Group, which had $2.3 billion in revenue in 2007, has investments in dozens of companies and wholly owns several, including Polaroid, which Petters Group purchased in 2005 for $426 million. Petters Group also owns Great Waters Media, which previously was called Metropolitan Media Group.
12) Stan Gadek, CEO of Sun Country, issued a statement Wednesday night affirming that the federal investigation won't affect its operations.
13) "It is business as usual at Sun Country and we do not anticipate any impact from these events," he said.
2008-09-29
Petters resigns amid fraud investigation
(APW_ENG_20080929.1513)
1) Tom Petters resigned as chairman and CEO of Petters Group Worldwide on Monday amid a federal investigation that alleges he and others defrauded investors of $100 million or more since the mid-1990s.
2) Petters' resignation came the same day that Sun Country Airlines, a unit of a Petters subsidiary, told its employees they would receive only half of their wages for the rest of the year because of a cash crunch.
3) "Quite simply, we must now become financially independent of our parent company," Sun Country CEO Stan Gadek said in a letter to employees Monday.
4) Petters announced his resignation at an employee meeting Monday morning. In a written statement, he said the "events of the last few days" have made it impossible for him to continue as leader.
5) Attorney Doug Kelley has been hired to help Petters Group assemble an interim management and legal team, the company said.
6) Last week, authorities raided Petters Co. Inc. -- a financing division of Petters Group -- as well as Petters' home and other offices and homes. Authorities are investigating a scheme that accuses Petters and his associates of defrauding investors through a web of phony transactions.
7) The investigation hasn't involved Sun Country Airlines.
8) Like other airlines, Sun Country has faced financial troubles for many months. The carrier laid off nearly 30 percent of its work force this spring. The company also cut management salaries by 10 percent, with Gadek taking a 15 percent pay cut.
2008-10-06
Sun Country files for bankruptcy protection
(APW_ENG_20081006.1246)
1) Regional carrier Sun Country Airlines is filing for bankruptcy reorganization, blaming legal troubles from a fraud investigation of its parent company Petters Group Worldwide.
2) The privately held airline said Monday it will continue its normal schedule as it reorganizes.
3) "We were forced to take this action as a result of recent events at Petters Group Worldwide," Chairman and Chief Executive Stan Gadek said in a statement.
4) Petters Group founder Tom Petters has been charged in what authorities say was a scheme to defraud investors of millions.
5) The filing is for Petters Aviation and its subsidiaries, including MN Airlines Inc., which does business as Sun Country Airlines.
2009-10-26
Federal trial looms in alleged $3.65B Ponzi scheme
(APW_ENG_20091026.0009)
1) Until the Bernard Madoff scandal broke, it was a Minnesota businessman who stood accused of orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme authorities could ever recall.
2) Tom Petters, 52, who seemed to have a golden touch as he built a small merchandise liquidation company into a diversified empire that owned well-known businesses such as Polaroid, goes on trial this week. The size of his alleged fraud: $3.65 billion.
3) Petters' world began to unravel a year ago when his trusted lieutenant, Deanna Coleman, walked into the U.S. attorney's office with what prosecutors called a "staggering" allegation.
4) Coleman said that for more than 10 years she had helped Petters run a multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme. She said they fabricated documents to trick investors into loaning money that Petters would claim to use to buy TVs and other electronic goods that he would purport to resell to big retailers like Costco and Sam's Club. Those goods never existed, prosecutors claim, saying most of the money really went to finance Petters' lifestyle and to pay off other investors.
5) Petters is charged with 20 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, which could imprison him for life. He maintains his innocence, and remains jailed. The trial is expected to take about six weeks, with jury selection starting Wednesday.
6) Coleman and six other alleged conspirators reached plea agreements, and most have cooperated with investigators.
7) Petters pleaded not guilty Dec. 2, just a week before Madoff began confessing. The New York financier claimed his investor accounts to be worth more than $65 billion last November, but authorities say his scheme cost thousands of investors at least $13 billion. Madoff pleaded guilty and is serving a 150-year sentence.
8) Madoff is a major reason that Petters hasn't drawn more national attention, said defense lawyers who aren't involved in either case. One prominent local attorney, Earl Gray, jokingly called him "a petty offender" compared with Madoff.
9) Yet Doug Kelley, a former federal prosecutor appointed by the court to try to recover money for Petters' alleged victims, said the Madoff receivers have told him they view the Petters case as "infinitely more complicated" because Madoff kept accurate records, while Petters built a complex web of some 150 corporations now "in various stages of decrepitude."
10) Petters once owned luxury homes in Minnesota, Florida and Colorado, yachts and fast cars. He hobnobbed with pro athletes and Hollywood stars and blew more than $10 million at one casino. He also styled himself as a philanthropist devoted to higher education, pledging millions to at least four colleges, which in turn named programs and endowed chairs after him, his children and company.
11) He failed to deliver on most of the money he promised.
12) In court filings, prosecutors depict his empire, Petters Group Worldwide LLC, as a house of cards, with legitimate companies such as Polaroid Corp. and Sun Country Airlines that gave him a veneer of respectability. But they say most were money-losers propped up by "the heart of the fraud," Petters Co. Inc.
13) Hedge funds and other private investment companies were the biggest losers when it all collapsed. But the victims, lured by promised rates of return as improbably high as 22 percent, also included faith-based charities and pastors saving for retirement.
14) Minnesota Teen Challenge, a chemical dependency program, lost $5.7 million. It had to cut staff before supporters helped it recover, said Eric Vagle, director of administration.
15) More than 100 pastors and some other nonprofits lost over $20 million. Their attorney, Carolyn Anderson, has said they include around 20 ministers whose life savings were wiped out.
16) The victims also included Petters' employees. About 2,400 people were working for his companies at the start of 2008; nearly all lost their jobs except those who kept their positions at Polaroid or Sun Country Airlines.
17) Kelley said his team has recovered $196 million, including $17 million from the personal assets of Petters and other defendants. They sold Polaroid for $88 million but expect to eventually net about $120 million once some remaining assets are sold, including about $10 million in art. Sun Country Airlines is still in bankruptcy but has turned profitable. Petters' Lake Minnetonka home remains for sale, marked down to $6.25 million. His wine collection fetched $7,080.
18) Petters' attorney, Jon Hopeman, did not return calls. The U.S. attorney's office declined an interview request. But according to prosecution filings, Petters claims Coleman carried out the scheme without his knowledge.
19) In its filings, the defense makes clear one of its strategies will be to attack the credibility of Coleman and other potential witnesses.
20) Gray, the defense attorney not involved in the case, said Petters' attorneys face a tough call on whether to put him on the stand.
21) If they do, prosecutors could ask about documents such as an e-mail Petters sent to Coleman in 2006, saying:
22) "I spent a fair amount of time (c)rying about all I have done wrong in my life (crying inside and out) I ask daily to be able to get up and have God to help me change this company into one we are so proud of instead of full of shame!" he wrote.
23) "The more he explains them the more the government will accuse him of lying," Gray said.
How prosecutors say Petters ' alleged scheme worked
(APW_ENG_20091026.0011)
1) Prosecutors say Petters Co. Inc. was just a common Ponzi scheme at its core.
2) Tom Petters and his co-conspirators allegedly fabricated business documents such as bank records and purchase orders from purported vendors. They allegedly used these documents to fool investors -- typically hedge funds and other private investment groups but also individuals and charities -- into thinking he was using their money to buy electronics that he would resell at a profit to big-box retailers such as Costco and Sam's Club.
3) But the merchandise and the sales never existed, prosecutors allege. Instead, they say, investors would be paid with money Petters and his accomplices raised from other investors. Or the investors would leave their money in the plan, thinking their investments were growing as Petters used them to finance additional merchandise deals.
4) When Petters had trouble paying investors on time, prosecutors allege, he would stall until he could raise more money, claiming his retailers were late in paying or providing checks he knew would bounce.
5) Petters also used two alleged co-conspirators posing as vendors to help launder billions of dollars of investor funds through their own business bank accounts, the prosecution documents allege.
6) By late 2007, prosecutors say, Petters and his associates were struggling to find new investors to keep the scheme afloat. Their troubles grew worse, and the operation came crashing down shortly after law enforcement officers raided Petters' headquarters on Sept. 24, 2008.
2009-10-28
Prosecutor: Bogus orders at heart of Ponzi scheme
(APW_ENG_20091028.1491)
1) Businessman Tom Petters wanted to "live the life of a corporate tycoon," so he engineered a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of billions of dollars, prosecutors said at the start of his fraud trial Wednesday.
2) While Petters' holdings included well-known and legitimate companies such as Polaroid Corp. and Sun Country Airlines, prosecutors say the heart of his business was a fraud they say reached $3.65 billion.
3) "This case is about deceit, lies, falsified documents and an illusion of a corporate tycoon at the top of a fake corporate empire," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Dickson told jurors who were quickly selected Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
4) Petters didn't engineer the alleged scheme but was the victim of it, his defense countered, saying others charged in the case turned what had been a legitimate business into an actual Ponzi scheme. Jurors will learn when they see the evidence that Petters is innocent, said attorney Jon Hopeman.
5) "The government's witnesses are instruments of darkness and they are tellers of foul lies," Hopeman said.
6) Petters became distracted in the early part of this decade as he built his business empire, Hopeman told jurors. He said Petters was devastated by the slaying of his son in Italy in 2004.
7) "He never intended to hurt anyone, and he never intended to defraud anyone," Hopeman said.
8) In his opening statement, Dickson laid out how Petters allegedly engineered the scheme, saying he produced bogus purchase orders to trick investors into investing millions of dollars that he would then say he used to buy electronic goods for resale to large retailers such as Costco and Sam's Club.
9) "The evidence will show he stole billions and billions of dollars from investors so he could live the life of a corporate tycoon," Dickson said.
10) Petters has pleaded not guilty, and his defense has contended that he was unaware of what his subordinates were doing -- partly because of all the time he spent on charitable work. Testimony is scheduled to begin Thursday.
11) Dickson told the jury how one of Petters' closest associates, Deanna Coleman, came to prosecutors in September 2008 and exposed how she, Petters and other defendants had kept the Ponzi scheme going for more than a decade. She then returned to work wearing a wire and began secretly recording conversations with Petters. The jury heard excerpts from several of those conversations.
12) Petters allegedly ran the scheme out of Petters Co. Inc., one component of Petters Group Worldwide LLC. The 52-year old from Wayzata faces 20 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. He's been jailed for over a year and could be imprisoned for life if convicted.
13) The trial before U.S. District Richard Kyle is expected to take up to six weeks. Kyle decided to pick four alternate jurors, for a total of 10 women and six men, instead of the usual two in case any jurors become ill with swine flu.
14) Petters pleaded not guilty Dec. 2, just a week before New York financier Bernard Madoff began confessing to an even larger Ponzi scheme. Authorities say Madoff's scheme cost thousands of investors at least $13 billion. Madoff pleaded guilty and is serving a 150-year sentence.
15) Hedge funds and other private investment funds are claiming the biggest losses in the Petters case, but the alleged victims also include a chemical dependency program for teens and other charities, as well as pastors who invested their retirement savings.
16) A court-appointed receiver has recovered $196 million so far, including $17 million from the personal assets of Petters and other defendants, which will be used to partially compensate investors who lost money.
2009-10-29
Prosecutor: Bogus orders at heart of Ponzi scheme
(APW_ENG_20091029.0015)
1) Businessman Tom Petters wanted to "live the life of a corporate tycoon," so he engineered a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of billions of dollars, prosecutors said at the start of his fraud trial Wednesday.
2) While Petters' holdings included well-known and legitimate companies such as Polaroid Corp. and Sun Country Airlines, prosecutors say the heart of his business was a fraud they say reached $3.65 billion.
3) "This case is about deceit, lies, falsified documents and an illusion of a corporate tycoon at the top of a fake corporate empire," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Dixon told jurors who were quickly selected Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
4) Petters didn't engineer the alleged scheme but was the victim of it, his defense countered, saying others charged in the case turned what had been a legitimate business into an actual Ponzi scheme. Jurors will learn when they see the evidence that Petters is innocent, said attorney Jon Hopeman.
5) "The government's witnesses are instruments of darkness and they are tellers of foul lies," Hopeman said.
6) Petters became distracted in the early part of this decade as he built his business empire, Hopeman told jurors. He said Petters was devastated by the slaying of his son in Italy in 2004.
7) "He never intended to hurt anyone, and he never intended to defraud anyone," Hopeman said.
8) In his opening statement, Dixon laid out how Petters allegedly engineered the scheme, saying he produced bogus purchase orders to trick investors into investing millions of dollars that he would then say he used to buy electronic goods for resale to large retailers such as Costco and Sam's Club.
9) "The evidence will show he stole billions and billions of dollars from investors so he could live the life of a corporate tycoon," Dixon said.
10) Petters has pleaded not guilty, and his defense has contended that he was unaware of what his subordinates were doing -- partly because of all the time he spent on charitable work. Testimony is scheduled to begin Thursday.
11) Dixon told the jury how one of Petters' closest associates, Deanna Coleman, came to prosecutors in September 2008 and exposed how she, Petters and other defendants had kept the Ponzi scheme going for more than a decade. She then returned to work wearing a wire and began secretly recording conversations with Petters. The jury heard excerpts from several of those conversations.
12) Petters allegedly ran the scheme out of Petters Co. Inc., one component of Petters Group Worldwide LLC. The 52-year old from Wayzata faces 20 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. He's been jailed for over a year and could be imprisoned for life if convicted.
13) The trial before U.S. District Richard Kyle is expected to take up to six weeks. Kyle decided to pick four alternate jurors, for a total of 10 women and six men, instead of the usual two in case any jurors become ill with swine flu.
14) Petters pleaded not guilty Dec. 2, just a week before New York financier Bernard Madoff began confessing to an even larger Ponzi scheme. Authorities say Madoff's scheme cost thousands of investors at least $13 billion. Madoff pleaded guilty and is serving a 150-year sentence.
15) Hedge funds and other private investment funds are claiming the biggest losses in the Petters case, but the alleged victims also include a chemical dependency program for teens and other charities, as well as pastors who invested their retirement savings.
16) A court-appointed receiver has recovered $196 million so far, including $17 million from the personal assets of Petters and other defendants, which will be used to partially compensate investors who lost money.
2009-10-31
Investor details $60M lost in alleged Petters scam
(APW_ENG_20091031.0029)
1) Jurors in a U.S. businessman's fraud trial are hearing how a hedge fund lost $60 million.
2) Interlachen Capital Group partner Gregg Colburn testified Friday his company thought Tom Petters' company was going to use the money to buy Sony and Panasonic TVs from a distributor. Colburn says Interlachen was led to believe that the TVs were being unloaded by the bankrupt retailer Circuit City.
3) Colburn says Petters and his associates also led them to believe Petters' company would be reselling the TVs to the retailers Sam's Club, Costco and BJ's Wholesale Club.
4) It turned out that the merchandise never existed, and Interlachen lost its $60 million when the Petters empire collapsed last year.
5) Prosecutors are using the deal as an example of how Petters' alleged $3.65 billion scam operated.
Investor details $60M lost in alleged US scam
(APW_ENG_20091031.0035)
1) Jurors in a businessman's fraud trial heard Friday how one hedge fund was fooled into losing $60 million in what prosecutors call one of the largest pyramid schemes ever uncovered.
2) Gregg Colburn, a partner in Interlachen Capital Group, of Minneapolis, testified his fund thought it would earn 20 percent interest on a six-month loan to Petters Co. Inc., netting it a $12 million profit. He told how some of the well-known companies owned by Petters Group Worldwide, such as Polaroid Corp., made the April 2008 loan seem like a good investment.
3) Prosecutors used the deal as an example of how Tom Petters' alleged $3.65 billion pyramid scheme operated until one of Petters' closest associates, Deanna Coleman, went to the U.S. attorney's office and blew the whistle on him Sept. 8, 2008. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and faces five years in prison. Prosecutors plan to call her to testify Monday.
4) Petters, 52, is charged with 20 federal counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. If convicted, he could be imprisoned for life. He maintains his innocence. Defense attorney Jon Hopeman claimed in his opening statement Wednesday that PCI had started as a legitimate business, and Petters didn't know Coleman and other defendants had turned it into a pyramid scheme.
5) In a pyramid scheme, investors are paid with other investors' money rather than actual profits on their investment.
6) Interlachen managed $1.1 billion for institutional investors and some wealthy individuals as of September 2008, and while the loss didn't break the fund, it hurt, Colburn said.
7) "To couple this with the financial collapse last fall was pretty rough ... It's not a lot of fun to have to talk about losing money," he said.
8) Colburn testified Petters, Coleman and other associates led Interlachen to believe Petters' PCI subsidiary would use Interlachen's $60 million to buy Sony and Panasonic TVs from a supplier who was snapping them up from the bankrupt retailer Circuit City. Interlachen expected PCI to make a quick killing by reselling the TVs to the retailers Sam's Club, Costco and BJ's Wholesale Club, and repay its debt promptly.
9) The purported supplier was a Los Angeles company, Nationwide International Resources Inc. Colburn said he didn't know then that Nationwide's president, Larry Reynolds, was a convicted felon. Reynolds was revealed during opening statements Wednesday to be Larry Reservitz, a disbarred lawyer with fraud and drug convictions and mob connections in New England. He entered the federal witness protection program and took on a new identity in the 1980s. Reynolds, who has pleaded guilty to money laundering and faces up to 20 years in prison, is expected to testify later.
10) Interlachen believed it had done its "due diligence" and that the purchase orders, wire transfer confirmations and other documents received from Petters and his associates were legitimate, Colburn said.
11) But the merchandise that was supposed to be Interlachen's collateral never existed, Colburn testified, and the fund lost its $60 million when the Petters empire collapsed last year.
12) Interlachen's loan wasn't due for repayment until October 2008, but Colburn said he started getting concerned the summer before when he noticed money from the retailers weren't flowing into an escrow account as expected. PCI claimed the retailers were just running a little late on their payments.
13) Colburn said his alarm grew after federal agents raided Petters' headquarters on Sept. 24, 2008. He e-mailed Petters saying he wanted to call the retailers to check on their plans for paying for the TVs that he still thought were securing the loan and protecting Interlachen's investors against a loss.
14) The jury heard a voice mail Petters left for Colburn, urging him to wait:
15) "I don't think you're going to get the satisfaction you need to get from those phone calls," Petters said.
2009-11-03
Whistleblower recounts money problems at Petters
(APW_ENG_20091103.0074)
1) A longtime aide to a Minnesota businessman accused of operating a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme said Monday that he was struggling to find new money and hold off nervous investors by the time she went to federal prosecutors to report the alleged scheme.
2) Deanna Coleman, 43, of Plymouth, was vice president of operations at Petters Co. Inc., a branch of Petters Group Worldwide, whose holdings included well-known and legitimate companies such as Polaroid and Sun Country Airlines before it collapsed last year. Prosecutors say PCI was at the heart of the fraud and the economic engine of Petters' corporate empire.
3) Coleman told jurors at Petters' trial Monday that she went to federal prosecutors on Sept. 8, 2008, to report longtime fraud and returned to corporate headquarters wearing a wire just hours later.
4) Recordings of Coleman's conversations with Petters and others portrayed an unraveling business that was running behind on payments to creditors and had several investors demanding proof their money was safe. The reality, Coleman testified, was that the electronics goods investors thought were backing their investments didn't even exist.
5) In one of the recordings, Petters can be heard beginning to cry.
6) "Sorry you ever had to meet me," Petters told Coleman, as his voice choked with emotion.
7) Petters then wanted to hug Coleman, who had been one of his closest lieutenants since he hired her as an office manager in 1993 and made her a vice president when he founded PCI in 1994.
8) Jurors heard Coleman tell Petters, "No hugs," claiming she had a sore back from all the stress. When Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Dixon asked her the real reason, she replied, "I had a recording device in my back."
9) Petters, 52, of Wayzata, Minnesota, is charged with 20 counts that could put him in prison for life, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. Defense attorney Jon Hopeman has said Petters is innocent and that Coleman and others carried out the Ponzi scheme without his knowledge.
10) U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle informed the jury that Coleman has a plea deal with prosecutors, who will recommend a reduced sentence for one count of fraud conspiracy in exchange for her cooperation. The maximum sentence on the count would be five years in prison. Kyle said jurors could use that information in deciding how much weight to give Coleman's testimony.
11) Federal authorities have said they had no idea what was taking place inside Minnetonka-based Petters Group Worldwide until Coleman and her attorney approached prosecutors. They gave her two recording devices, one that fit on her key chain and another that went in her pocket, and sent her back to work, Coleman testified.
12) Going over documents from several deals over the years, Coleman described for the jury how the alleged scheme would work. She said she would draft fake purchase orders for televisions and other electronic goods PCI claimed to be buying from various suppliers and reselling at a profit to discount retailers Costco, Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Club.
13) PCI would present the falsified documents to investors -- primarily hedge funds -- and pledge the merchandise as collateral for high-interest short-term loans to finance the deals. But the merchandise never existed, she said, and in most of those years PCI never did any business with the retailers.
14) Instead, she said, the money would be used to pay off other investors and cover operational costs of Petters' other companies, which generally lost money. Dixon asked her how long they operated that way.
15) "Basically since day one," she replied.
16) Jurors heard one recording in which Petters said it had been "nothing short of a ... miracle" that the scheme hadn't already collapsed. He also described some deals he had in the works to try to stave off disaster, included one to sell a half interest in Polaroid, which Petters bought in 2005.
17) "We'll get a couple hundred million dollars," Petters said. "Not enough to do what we need to do."
2009-11-19
Petters blames top associates for alleged fraud
(APW_ENG_20091119.0117)
1) Businessman Tom Petters put the blame squarely on several of his trusted friends Wednesday for the $3.65 billion fraud carried out at Petters Co. Inc.
2) Testifying for the second day in his fraud trial, Petters said two PCI vice presidents, Deanna Coleman and Bob White, did nearly all the work of running PCI, which was part of his Petters Group Worldwide holdings.
3) Petters denied asking Coleman or White to prepare fake financial documents such as purchase orders and bank statements, and said he would have fired them if he had known they did.
4) He also pointed the finger at another friend who did business with PCI, Larry Reynolds. He said he had no idea Reynolds was a disbarred lawyer and convicted felon who was hiding in the witness protection program until his lawyers broke the news to him earlier this year.
5) But Petters spent the bulk of his time on the stand discussing his involvement in legitimate deals, including real merchandise liquidations through PCI in the 1990s. This decade, he recalled, he put up the money to save catalog and online retailer Fingerhut; licensed the Polaroid brand and put it on DVD players, TVs and cameras before he bought Polaroid altogether; and he bought Sun Country Airlines to keep it flying.
6) Petters, 52, of Wayzata, grew emotional while talking about the stabbing death of his son, John Petters, in Italy in 2004, which he depicted as a turning point in his life.
7) While he started PCI in the 1990s, Petters said he was spending "very little" time on it in the years right before his son's murder. And he said he spent virtually none of his time on PCI after that, as he dealt with his grief by throwing himself into charitable work and his newer acquisitions, such as Polaroid.
8) Prosecutors say PCI was at the heart of a pyramid scheme that used false documents to induce hedge funds and other investors to make short-term loans that PCI would purport to use to buy electronics goods from various sources to resell at a profit to discount clubs such as Costco and Sam's Club. In most cases the goods never existed and the money went instead to pay off other investors, support Petters' lifestyle or subsidize the other companies he owned, the prosecution contends.
9) Petters testified when he first took the stand late Tuesday that he was not guilty of any of the 20 wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy and money laundering counts against him.
10) Petters' normally strong voice dropped almost inaudibly low as he said his trust in Coleman had been "as deep as it can go." He also described her as a dependable, energetic worker.
11) As PCI teetered close to collapse, with investors demanding payment and not enough new money coming in, Coleman went to federal investigators on Sept. 8, 2008. She returned to Petters Group wearing a wire as part of a deal with prosecutors that will limit her sentence to no more than five years in prison. White and Reynolds face up to 20 years in prison but are hoping for lighter sentences in return for their testimony. Petters could be imprisoned for life.
12) Petters testified he had long wanted to sell off PCI. He said he hated the stresses of the liquidation business and the problems that came up with the complex deals.
13) "I had the living bejesus scared out of me a whole bunch of times on a whole bunch of transactions," he said.
14) Petters said PCI was the "golden goose" in his portfolio and would have drawn willing buyers. Coleman would express support for selling PCI but White or others always seemed to be standing in the way, he said.
15) Prosecutors presented evidence earlier that PCI was the only profitable Petters Group company. But Petters denied that. He said Polaroid made around a $52 million profit one year, Fingerhut became profitable, and that UBid.com, another company in which he owned a stake, also made money.
16) Petters admitted he made "a horrible mistake" when he advised White to flee the country a week after federal agents raided Petters Group headquarters on Sept. 24, 2008. Investigators recorded their phone call, and it's a major reason why Petters has remained jailed for more than a year since his arrest.
2009-11-20
Petters says he planned to tell gov ' t about fraud
(APW_ENG_20091120.0933)
1) A U.S. businessman accused of running a Ponzi scheme and defrauding investors out of billions of dollars said Friday that a 2008 raid by federal agents on his company was unnecessary and caused its collapse.
2) Testifying before his attorneys rested their case, Tom Petters said he was consulting with his lawyers and preparing to go to the U.S. attorney himself when agents raided his business. His statements led to a series of deeply skeptical questions from federal prosecutor Joe Dixon.
3) Prosecutors accuse Petters of running a Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme that cost investors $3.65 billion when it collapsed. The scam used bogus purchase orders to fool investors into thinking their money was backed by electronics goods that Petters Co. Inc. would buy from various suppliers and resell to discount chains like Sam's Club, Costco and BJ's Wholesale Club. The merchandise didn't exist, prosecutors say, and the money went instead to pay other investors or to support Petters and his companies.
4) Petters -- whose holdings through Petters Group Worldwide also included Polaroid and Sun Country Airlines -- is charged with 20 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. He faces life in prison if convicted. The other defendants in the case reached plea deals and testified against him, hoping for lighter sentences.
5) In testimony that stretched over four days this week, Petters insisted that Deanna Coleman and Bob White, who were both vice presidents at PCI, were responsible for the fraud.
6) Petters testified Friday he had come to suspect some kind of fraud within Petters Co. Inc. last year as its cash flow problems multiplied, and knew he had a "very, very large problem." But he said he had no idea about the extent until Coleman told him in a conversation that she recorded Sept. 9, 2008, that PCI hadn't been doing real merchandise deals for many years.
7) "We did many, many years ago," Coleman told him the day after she went to federal authorities to report the fraud and returned to Petters' Minnetonka headquarters wearing a wire.
8) Petters testified he was "dumbfounded" by Coleman's comments on the recording and that they made him start to seriously wonder if she was mentally ill. But he said he now knows better.
9) "She set me up for a fraud she couldn't handle," he said.
10) Dixon countered with several e-mails and transcripts the jury had already seen in which Petters used words like "fraud" to describe what was happening within PCI. Petters insisted Dixon was misconstruing his statements.
11) "You always knew it wasn't real," Dixon said.
12) "No, that's not the case," Petters replied.
13) Petters said the raid and the publicity that surrounded it caused the collapse of Petters Group, which soon went bankrupt.
14) "The only thing the raid did was make problems worse," Petters said. He said it left Polaroid nearly worthless and caused passengers to start canceling their tickets on Sun Country Airlines.
15) Petters said he had been developing a plan for raising money and keeping Petters Group alive that included purchasing struggling electronics retailer Circuit City, licensing the rights to the Polaroid brand abroad and shutting down his unprofitable operations, but the raid ended all that.
16) The case will go to the jury next week. U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle scheduled closing arguments and jury instructions for Monday, which means the jury could get the case late Monday. He said he would leave it up to jurors to decide whether to deliberate on Wednesday if they haven't reached a verdict by then, or break for the Thanksgiving holiday.
2010-04-08
Prosecutors seek 335 years for businessman
(APW_ENG_20100408.0693)
1) When businessman Tom Petters' corporate empire collapsed, the losers in what prosecutors say was a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme included not just hedge funds, but at least 10 pastors, three missionaries, dozens of retirees and a half-dozen nursing home residents, according to federal court filings.
2) Prosecutors have argued in court documents that Petters captained a fraud so massive that he has earned the statutory maximum of 335 years -- effectively life in prison for the 52-year-old. The defense says four years would be sufficient.
3) A jury convicted the one-time owner of Polaroid and Sun Country Airlines four months ago on 20 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. His sentencing hearing was scheduled for Thursday morning.
4) "The defendant's fraud is beyond comprehension in size and scope," prosecutor Joe Dixon wrote. "The offense is the largest fraud in the history of Minnesota. Indeed, there are only a handful of fraud schemes that are even comparable in the history of the United States."
5) One of those few was run by Bernard Madoff, the New York financier who was sentenced to 150 years in prison after pleading guilty for a Ponzi scheme that cost thousands of investors at least $13 billion.
6) Using the Madoff model and some creative math, defense attorney Paul Engh last week proposed a sentence of just over four years.
7) Petters plans to appeal his conviction and has maintained his innocence. The defense also disputes that what happened was a Ponzi scheme, in which early investors are paid off with money from later investors.
8) Petters testified that he had thought Petters Co. Inc., an arm of his now bankrupt Petters Group Worldwide, was doing real deals involving real merchandise.
9) According to testimony and documents presented at trial, PCI used fake purchase orders and bogus bank records to persuade investors to finance what they were told would be purchases of electronics such as big-screen televisions that PCI would resell to discount retailer such as Sam's Club and Costco. In reality, the prosecution contended, the merchandise never existed and the sales never took place.
10) Petters' attorneys blamed other business associates -- who all pleaded guilty in hopes of leniency when they're sentenced later -- and said his biggest mistake was trusting them.
Businessman gets 50 years in $3.65B fraud case
(APW_ENG_20100408.0838)
1) A federal judge has sentenced fallen tycoon Tom Petters to 50 years in prison for a fraud that prosecutors say cost investors $3.65 billion.
2) U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle handed down the sentence Thursday, saying he didn't believe Petters was unaware of the fraud. Kyle says Petters was "captain of the ship."
3) Petters, the one-time owner of Polaroid and Sun Country Airlines, was convicted four months ago on 20 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.
4) Petters spoke in court, apologizing to family, friends and co-workers. He says he's filled with "pain and anguish" for the lives the scheme destroyed.
5) Prosecutors say Petters deserved the statutory maximum of 335 years -- effectively life in prison for the 52-year-old.
Businessman gets 50 years in $3.65B fraud case
(APW_ENG_20100408.0871)
1) A federal judge sentenced fallen tycoon Tom Petters to 50 years in prison on Thursday for orchestrating a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme that counted hedge funds, pastors, missionaries and retirees among its victims.
2) "Every day, I'm filled with pain and anguish for all the lives that have been destroyed and touched by this episode," Petters said at his sentencing hearing, apologizing to family, friends, co-workers and others who were hurt.
3) U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle said a long sentence was necessary and that he didn't believe Petters, the one-time owner of Polaroid and Sun Country Airlines, was unaware of the fraud.
4) "Mr. Petters was captain of the ship," Kyle said.
5) The judge will recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that Petters be allowed to serve his time in Minnesota.
6) A jury convicted Petters four months ago on 20 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.
7) Prosecutors said Petters deserved the statutory maximum of 335 years -- effectively life in prison for the 52-year-old.
8) "The defendant's fraud is beyond comprehension in size and scope," prosecutor Joe Dixon wrote in court documents. "The offense is the largest fraud in the history of Minnesota. Indeed, there are only a handful of fraud schemes that are even comparable in the history of the United States."
9) One of those few was run by Bernard Madoff, the New York financier who was sentenced to 150 years in prison after pleading guilty for a Ponzi scheme that cost thousands of investors at least $13 billion.
10) Using the Madoff model and some creative math, defense attorney Paul Engh last week proposed a sentence of a little more than four years.
11) After the sentencing, Petters' attorneys released a statement that read: "We are saddened by the verdict and sentence. There is no victory for anyone when a vibrant young man is placed into a prison cell for the balance of his days and nights."
12) Attorney Jon Hopeman said the defense team would have no further comment. Earlier, it said it planned to appeal the conviction and maintained that Petters was innocent.
13) The defense also disputes that what happened was a Ponzi scheme, in which early investors are paid off with money from later investors.
14) Petters testified at trial that he had thought Petters Co. Inc., an arm of his now bankrupt Petters Group Worldwide, was doing real deals involving real merchandise.
15) According to testimony and documents presented at trial, PCI used fake purchase orders and bogus bank records to persuade investors to finance what they were told would be purchases of electronics such as big-screen televisions that PCI would resell to discount retailer such as Sam's Club and Costco. In reality, the prosecution contended, the merchandise never existed and the sales never took place.
16) Petters' attorneys blamed other business associates -- who all pleaded guilty in hopes of leniency when they're sentenced later -- and said his biggest mistake was trusting them.
17) "Petters is imperfect yes but not evil," the defense wrote in a recent filing. Another defense filing called him "a flawed but still virtuous human being."
2010-10-20
20 women arrested in Swedish child porn raid
(APW_ENG_20101020.0543)
1) Swedish police say they have arrested 23 people in a nationwide raid against a child pornography ring, including 20 women.
2) Police spokesman Sven-Ake Petters called the raid "unique" and said he has never come across so many female suspects in a child pornography investigation before. He says arrests were made at 12 different locations across Sweden on Wednesday and include women aged between 38 and 60.
3) Police uncovered the network during the investigation of a man in Dalarna, western Sweden, who was charged last month with breaking child pornography laws.
4) Petters says there were no immediate clues as to why so many women were involved but that police will now investigate computers and mobile phones that were seized during the raid.