The official USDOJ press release is here. I want to particularly commend the new Obama administration interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force that worked together to achieve this conviction, along with some spectacular prosecutorial lawyering by the DoJ attorneys, particularly Tracy Perzel and David MacLaughin.
from the official DoJ press release:
This is significant, because the U. S. Attorney's office has claimed that the Ponzi schemers knew from the beginning that they were operating a scam, a scheme, a swindle, a rip-off. Along the way they tried to rip off each other. That was true of Trevor Cook and Chris Pettengill who plea bargained; that was true of Gerald Durand, Patrick Kiley, and 'Bo' Beckman who didn't have the good sense, or good timing, to make a plea bargain.
All of them will be doing time, but the crooks who made the plea bargains on fewer counts are almost certainly going to be doing far less time than the fools who tried to brazen it out to the end. That end is now.........with a bit of a wait for the sentencing.
A conviction could not happen to more deserving bad men. This scam made me angry as a Minnesotan; this conviction makes me proud at least of the way our courts operate. Kudos to Judge Davis (also mentioned in my Bibles / Gay Pride post earlier today, as was Dan Browning).
A very special word of recognition should go to the prosecutors,
I would like to add that by blogging partner Pen and I have become very fond of the largely conservative victims who were taken advantage of by this terrible scam. It is a shame that it sometimes takes shared anger over this kind of loss to bring people of different ideologies together.
I will be writing at greater length later, but in the interim, here is a report from Dan Browning at the STrib, who has provided such excellent reporting throughout this case - as was acknowledged in an unprecedented notice from the bench. Dan deserves his own round of applause.
Here is his take from today in the courtroom:
All three were found guilty of all the charges resulting from the $194 million fraud scheme -- the second-largest Ponzi scheme in Minnesota history..
Jason "Bo" Beckman, a 42-year-old Plymouth man who claimed to be among the top portfolio managers in the nation, was convicted of a variety of fraud and money-laundering charges.
Beckman, a former Anoka High School hockey standout, also was convicted of attempting to defraud the National Hockey League on his failed effort to buy a $5 million piece of the Minnesota Wild; of defrauding an elderly Spring Lake Park couple out of nearly $4 million in life insurance proceeds that he used to bolster his NHL bid; and of several tax charges.
Faribault entrepreneur and former coin dealer Gerald Durand, 62, was convicted of fraud and money-laundering charges; of attempting to mislead the government about two foreign currency transactions; and of several tax charges.
Minneapolis huckster Patrick Kiley, 73 -- whose "Follow the Money" radio talk-show program lured the most investors -- was found guilty of fraud and money laundering counts.
Cook's Ponzi scheme is second only to the $3.65 billion, decade-long fraud of Twin Cities businessman Tom Petters, who's serving 50 years in federal prison for his crimes.
Unlike Petters, who sacked hedge funds, Cook and his cronies pinched the nest eggs of ordinary people. Their victims ranged from Margueritte Witte, 73, of Meadview, Ariz., who lives on Social Security and lost her entire $20,000 life savings, to Richard and Rita Myers, who lost their dream home in Gambrels, Md., to foreclosure after entrusting Cook with $3 million in cash plus $2 million in gold and silver coins -- the hard-won savings from running a moving and storage company.
Cook pleaded guilty in 2010 to fraud and tax evasion charges and is serving 25 years in federal prison.
Read the rest here.
from the official DoJ press release:
This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division, with assistance of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Tracy L. Perzel and David J. MacLaughlin.
This is significant, because the U. S. Attorney's office has claimed that the Ponzi schemers knew from the beginning that they were operating a scam, a scheme, a swindle, a rip-off. Along the way they tried to rip off each other. That was true of Trevor Cook and Chris Pettengill who plea bargained; that was true of Gerald Durand, Patrick Kiley, and 'Bo' Beckman who didn't have the good sense, or good timing, to make a plea bargain.
All of them will be doing time, but the crooks who made the plea bargains on fewer counts are almost certainly going to be doing far less time than the fools who tried to brazen it out to the end. That end is now.........with a bit of a wait for the sentencing.
A conviction could not happen to more deserving bad men. This scam made me angry as a Minnesotan; this conviction makes me proud at least of the way our courts operate. Kudos to Judge Davis (also mentioned in my Bibles / Gay Pride post earlier today, as was Dan Browning).
A very special word of recognition should go to the prosecutors,
I would like to add that by blogging partner Pen and I have become very fond of the largely conservative victims who were taken advantage of by this terrible scam. It is a shame that it sometimes takes shared anger over this kind of loss to bring people of different ideologies together.
I will be writing at greater length later, but in the interim, here is a report from Dan Browning at the STrib, who has provided such excellent reporting throughout this case - as was acknowledged in an unprecedented notice from the bench. Dan deserves his own round of applause.
Here is his take from today in the courtroom:
Three guilty in massive Ponzi scheme
- Article by: DAN BROWNING , Star Tribune
- Updated: June 12, 2012 - 3:48 PM
Jurors convicted three men of helping convicted fraudster Trevor Cook to bilk 700 investors of $194 million in an international scheme.
Jurors in Minneapolis on Tuesday found three men guilty of helping convicted fraudster Trevor Cook pilfer the savings of more than 700 investors in an international Ponzi scheme that targeted conservatives and Christians and spoiled the retirement dreams of mostly elderly victims who have little chance of recovery.All three were found guilty of all the charges resulting from the $194 million fraud scheme -- the second-largest Ponzi scheme in Minnesota history..
Jason "Bo" Beckman, a 42-year-old Plymouth man who claimed to be among the top portfolio managers in the nation, was convicted of a variety of fraud and money-laundering charges.
Beckman, a former Anoka High School hockey standout, also was convicted of attempting to defraud the National Hockey League on his failed effort to buy a $5 million piece of the Minnesota Wild; of defrauding an elderly Spring Lake Park couple out of nearly $4 million in life insurance proceeds that he used to bolster his NHL bid; and of several tax charges.
Faribault entrepreneur and former coin dealer Gerald Durand, 62, was convicted of fraud and money-laundering charges; of attempting to mislead the government about two foreign currency transactions; and of several tax charges.
Minneapolis huckster Patrick Kiley, 73 -- whose "Follow the Money" radio talk-show program lured the most investors -- was found guilty of fraud and money laundering counts.
Cook's Ponzi scheme is second only to the $3.65 billion, decade-long fraud of Twin Cities businessman Tom Petters, who's serving 50 years in federal prison for his crimes.
Unlike Petters, who sacked hedge funds, Cook and his cronies pinched the nest eggs of ordinary people. Their victims ranged from Margueritte Witte, 73, of Meadview, Ariz., who lives on Social Security and lost her entire $20,000 life savings, to Richard and Rita Myers, who lost their dream home in Gambrels, Md., to foreclosure after entrusting Cook with $3 million in cash plus $2 million in gold and silver coins -- the hard-won savings from running a moving and storage company.
Cook pleaded guilty in 2010 to fraud and tax evasion charges and is serving 25 years in federal prison.
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