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BMO fights lawsuits seeking billions over customer's Ponzi scheme

Three and a half years after buying Marshall & Ilsley Corp., BMO Financial Group is fighting four federal lawsuits — one seeking a staggering $24 billion — stemming from M&I’s dealings with a profitable, but very corrupt, customer. The customer was a company owned by Tom Petters, a Minnesota man serving a50-year federal prison sentence in Leavenworth, Kan., for masterminding a $3.7 billion Ponzi scheme. That scam was thought to be the third-largest Ponzi in U.S. history. “Petters did not act alone,” charges the $24 billion suit filed by Florida investor groups that unwittingly financed some of Petters’ scam. More in the Journal-Sentinel [...]

Father, son to plead guilty in Madoff-tied scam

A former Massachusetts Institute of Technology dean and his son have agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges for running an alleged hedge fund scam that lost more than $140 million in investors’ money, according to federal prosecutors in Boston. Investigators said they discovered the scam while they unraveled Bernard Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme. Gabriel Bitran, 69, and his son Marco, 39, are accused of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of justice in connection with their GMB Capital Management and GMB Capital Partners hedge fund businesses. More in USA Today [...]

Mets-Madoff Trustee, Linden Ponds, Petters: Bankruptcy

New York Mets Owner Fred Wilpon needs to decide in the next month whether to settle the lawsuit by the trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities Inc. or face a potential judgment of more than $1 billion at a two-week jury trial beginning March 5. Read more on Bloomberg Businessweek [...]

Another Petters associate charged

The Tom Petters Ponzi scheme ensnared another financier Tuesday as James Fry, who runs Arrowhead Capital Management, was indicted on multiple fraud counts. Read TwinCities.com report [...]

Hedge Fund Owner Charged In Petters Case

Federal prosecutors have indicted the owner of hedge fund Arrowhead Capital Management in the Thomas Petters Ponzi scheme case, and added to the list of charges against the $3.65 billion fraudster’s chief fundraiser. Read more in FinAlternatives [...]

Charges Widen Against Associates of Ponzi Schemer Thomas Petters

The U.S. Department of Justice said it has filed more charges against Frank Elroy Vennes Jr. and new charges against another man related to their roles raising funds for a company later exposed as a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme run by Thomas Petters. Read more on Nasdaq.com [...]

State, IRS seek Petters leftovers

There’s already a long list of people who want whatever assets remain from the Tom Petters Ponzi scheme. Now, the IRS and Minnesota’s revenue department are looking for their cut of the leftovers. Read TwinCities report [...]

U.S. Supreme Court rejects appeal by Petters victims

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to get involved in a case involving victims of Twin Cities businessman Tom Petters’ $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme. Read more in the Minneapolis/St Louis Business [...]