Petters Trial Sketches

Sketches from the trial at the Petters Info blog.

Ponzi Island

Tom Petters and Bernie Madoff, both former denizens of Ponzi Island, now guests at the Graybar Hotel... will there be others?

Dealbreaker.com speculates:

Tom Petters was arrested for money laundering by the FBI last October and the SEC said there were $3.5 billion in losses for fund of hedge funds in his Ponzi scheme. For now, court proceedings in the Petters criminal case have been sealed - leaving the victims and the public with few answers about who else conspired in this maze of financial crime and abuse of investor confidence. One such person is a reformed convict turned multimillionaire Frank Vennes....

Stay tuned...

Quick Sketch of Tom Petters 6/16/09

Pirates of Lake Minnetonka Map

The lake and smaller maps with details.

Click on map to make it bigger:

Pirates of Lake Minnetonka

ARRRrrrrrrhhhhh!!!!

Bentley'd Out of Shape

City Pages:

This wasn't Catain's first run-in with police. Neighbors call him a community bully who often yelled and threatened nearby residents. He has filed at least two lawsuits as a result of conflicts; one against neighbor John McMasters is still active. Neighbors say police have been called to the residence more than a dozen times.

"This is a neighborhood dispute on steroids," said McMasters's attorney Ed Cohen. "While building his home here, he decided he was king of the neighborhood, so he started bossing people around, screaming and yelling and calling the police." Catain sued McMasters for causing irreparable distress to his wife, which McMasters denies occurred.

According to the 2006 police report from the incident, Catain was angered after his wife said McMasters was threatening her. When police arrived, Catain was screaming, "You wanna come after my wife? I'll fucking kill you." Later on, he told police he knew state Attorney General Mike Hatch and had contributed enough to his campaign that he deserved a favor. He wanted a restraining order against McMasters and hoped to get him kicked out of Shorewood.

Other neighbors have equally disturbing horror stories about the Catains but wanted to stay anonymous to protect their families and avoid potential lawsuits.

KSTP:

As court marshals arrested Catain, he gave his wife his rosary, kissed her, hugged her and told her to be strong. Both Catain and his wife were visibly shaken.

Catain pleaded guilty to cooperating in an alleged $3 billion Ponzi scheme with Petters.

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"I'm Ready for My Close-Up Mr. DeMille"

Strib:

....agents with the FBI, IRS criminal investigative division and U.S. Postal Inspection Service seized scores of documents, computers and records from Vennes' home -- including checkbooks from one of the charities he had sponsored.

From a basement vault, agents took boxes and buckets of silver and gold coins, trays of jewelry, five stacks of $100 bills, boxes of gem stones, silver plates and Rolex watches. Agents also seized diamond rings and numerous paintings, including dozens with religious themes, such as the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

Click on picture to make it bigger:

Starting Over?

KSTP:

PETTERS: "you know, they're not going to give either one of us a deal."

WHITE: "I’m scared as could be, Tom."

WHITE: "It’s hard to just take off with a boat…you got to do some preparations and it costs...it's not like driving to the cabin."

Both men then talked about how their families would handle a life on the run.

Petters said his girlfriend, Tracy, and mother of their two children, told him "as long as we have our kids, we can do anything. We can start over and do anything."

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You Can't Take it With You?

Strib:

"... After making an inventory of the household goods in Catain's Lake Minnetonka home, an investigator returned to find that several fixtures -- "including expensive chandeliers" -- had been removed. "

Thrown From the Wolves?

Strib:

"... the government's key witness and informant, former Petters executive Deanna Coleman, tried to keep her $800 courtside season tickets to the Minnesota Timberwolves... "

Tom Petters Has No Friends?

... on Facebook: