Strib: "Petters' bid to suppress comments to FBI denied"

Strib:

Minnesota businessman Tom Petters appears to be losing his fight to suppress comments he made to authorities last fall as they confronted him in his hotel suite in Las Vegas.

A U.S. magistrate judge in St. Paul on Tuesday denied Petters' motion to suppress the half-hour interview he conducted that morning in his bathrobe at the Bellagio, reasoning that Petters freely volunteered information, clearly wasn't under arrest at the time and didn't need to be read his Miranda rights.

This is what happened:

During the half-hour talk in his suite, Petters told federal agents "I'm in charge, I'll bite the bullet," according to court documents.

The conversation took place the morning of Sept. 24 as agents were executing search warrants on Petters' business in Minnetonka. Two FBI agents, an agent for Nevada Gaming Control and a hotel security manager took the back stairs to Petters' suite that morning and knocked on his door about 7 a.m.

Petters, gripping a cell phone, invited them in, according to court documents. The group sat at a dining table, and an FBI agent informed Petters they suspected he was running a fraud scheme. Petters "maintained a pleasant demeanor and appeared relaxed," according to court documents. He spoke briefly with an attorney on the cell phone and the agents left about 7:30 a.m.

More Revelations About Petters Associate and Politician

Karl Bremer has the scoop at The Minnesota Independent :

Last fall, the Minnesota Independent reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign made a $9,200 charitable contribution to the faith-based drug treatment program Minnesota Teen Challenge on Oct. 3, 2008, in an effort to wash its hands of tainted contributions from Tom Petters associate Frank Vennes, Jr.

The Minnesota Independent has recently learned that Minnesota Teen Challenge returned the donation to Bachmann two weeks later.

“We didn’t want to be involved if it was dirty money,” Rich Scherber, executive director of Minnesota Teen Challenge, told MnIndy.

The article continues to describe the relationship between Bachmann, Vennes and MNTC.

Bachmann apparently delayed disclosure of the money being returned:

Rep. Bachmann failed to report the money being returned to her campaign until her first quarter 2009 campaign filing, a possible violation of Federal Election Commission rules.

The $9,200 — the same amount Vennes and his wife had contributed to Bachmann’s campaign in 2008 — did not show up on Bachmann’s pre-election, post-election or year-end quarterly FEC filings. According to federal rules, the returned contribution should have shown up on one of these reports if it was returned to Bachmann’s campaign in October, as Scherber claims.

Bachmann’s first quarter report shows that the Minnesota Teen Challenge donation was returned to the campaign on Jan. 1, 2009.

“We reported it properly,” says Bachmann staffer Marston. “We reported it when it was received.” Marston confirmed that the contribution was received on Jan. 1, and she could not explain the discrepancy with Scherber’s claim that the funds were sent back in October.

The FEC prescribes financial penalties for “a failure to make the required disclosures … at the time and in the manner prescribed” or for “a failure to include any of the information required to be shown by such disclosures or to show the correct information.”

Read the entire article at MnIndy.

Here's the first of 4 audio files I uploaded to You Tube of Frank Vennes giving a talk in February of 2007 titled "God and Money":



WCCO's Esme Murphy asked Bachmann about the contribution from Frank Vennes Jr. in this interview:



(Cross-posted at the Dump Bachmann blog)

Petters Trial Court Date - September 14, 2009

From the Petters-Fraud website:

Judge sets Petters Trial for September (PDF)

Also:

Deanna Coleman's hubby gets 1/2 of Bank account Returned (PDF)

Petters Lawyers Can't Quit... New Auction for Polaroid

Strib:

InThe saga of Minnesota businessman Tom Petters played out in separate St. Paul courtrooms Thursday, with a federal district court judge telling Petters' criminal defense attorneys they can't quit, even though they haven't been paid yet for any work they've done this year, and a federal bankruptcy judge reopening the auction for Petters' Polaroid Corp. -- again.

Documents and more at Petters-Fraud.com.

What's This About?

From Petters-Fraud.com:

Petters seeks to put pleading Under Seal (PDF).

Judge Grants Motion 2 SEAL (PDF).

WTF?

Legal Wrangling in Polaroid Auction

The Business Journal:

A U.S. bankruptcy judge in St. Paul on Monday decided to reopen the auction of Polaroid Corp., following complaints from the company’s creditors, the Star Tribune reports.

New York private-equity firm Patriarch Partners won the auction last week with a $59.3 million bid, but creditors objected, saying a bid from PLR Holdings should have been given stronger consideration. PLR is a joint venture of Toronto-based Hilco Consumer Capital and Boston-based Gordon Bros. Brands.

After hearing those complaints Monday morning, Judge Gregory Kishel said he would allow Patriarch and PLR to each submit final, best offers for Polaroid, the Star Tribune reported.

The court will reconvene on Thursday, at which time a final sale of the company is expected to be completed.

The Petters-Fraud website has more about Petters and Polaroid.

Petters Muckety Chart

Petters Boat for Sale / Larry Reynolds Freed From House Arrest

KSTP:

Embattled Twin Cities businessman Tom Petters has agreed to sell his 2900 Coronet boat.

Petters bought it with proceeds from Petters Co. Inc and Petters Group Worldwide. The court-appointed receiver, who now controls his assets, is asking the court for permission to sell the vessel for $110,00.

The boat was purchased in 2004—the average running cost for the boat is $182,000.

KSTP:

On Thursday, a federal judge ordered Larry Reynolds no longer has to be under home detention because of his cooperation in the case.

He will have a curfew and must stay under electronic monitoring.
Reynolds’ attorneys argued other co-defendants don't have home monitoring and their client needed the freedom in order to look for a job.

Things seem to be heating up over at Petters-Fraud.com:

Research of Michael O'Shaughnessy and Lindquist & Vennum threatening this webmanager
as Lindquist Falsely stated Petters never vested in Element Electronics and MO has nothing to do with Petters
This lead us to discover that Doug Kelley was ORIGINALLY hired by Petters PGW (here)
and it gets worse Doug Kelley hand picks Jeffries for Polaroid and says she is not under investigation
Totally in Conflict of Interest Doug Kelley makes public statement that Creditors come LAST to Petters COs (here)
Doug Kelley appointed as Receiver only as a Knee jerk reaction to Illinois appointing their's
The DK L&V Receiver is shameful at best and bogus with vailed agendas patently being obvious