Madoff lite? Petters trial commences this week

Until the Bernard Madoff scandal broke, it was a Minnesota businessman who stood accused of orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme authorities could ever recall.

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.

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.

Coleman said 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.

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.

Coleman and six other alleged conspirators reached plea agreements, and most have cooperated with investigators.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

He failed to deliver on most of the money he promised.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In its filings, the defense makes clear one of its strategies will be to attack the credibility of Coleman and other potential witnesses.