my dad

[snoorkel]

Probably none of you heard about this, but a couple years ago a huge Ponzi scheme was uncovered in Minnesota. My dad was one of the main investors in the guy's company --

Tom Petters, the former CEO of Petters Group Worldwide, told hedge funds and other investors that he was using their money to buy and sell massive amounts of electronic goods to large retailers, such as Sam's Club. But that was actually a ruse to lure in more investors to feed a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme run through Petters Group subsidiary Petters Co. Inc.

He (dad) has been sued by numerous parties for his alleged involvement in the fraud, although he's almost completely innocent (I'm sure at this point):

The fund's founder is James F____ of Orono. Last year, the trustee handling the Petters Co. Inc. bankruptcy case sued Arrowhead and F____, seeking the return of $105.4 million in "false profits."

Today I found out that a previous employee of his was examined by the SEC and somehow fucked it up telling lies that got found out, so she's now under criminal investigation - and the SEC has elevated the whole case to a federal criminal case, as well as filed a $25-30m lawsuit against him for restitution of the lost investments.

Best case scenario is that he defends himself successfully against criminal charges, declares bankruptcy and still owes $25m or more as the SEC continues to come after him (being the last standing un-indicted person close to the scandal).

Worst case scenario, he'll lose the criminal case and have a felony charge, owe $50-100m plus legal fees for the SEC's prosecution, AND face 2-3 years of jail time.

What the fuck is this? Obviously our legal and financial system is fucked at the roots but what the FUCK is this? Our federal government gives billions to banks so they can pay it out to CEOs and rich investors while they call it 'qualitative easing' and food prices keep going up, and they organize a witch hunt to fuck over every small businessman associated by proxy with a scandal (my dad didn't own the hedge fund that was invested with Petters, he owned an LLC that managed it) so they can add the damages that get awarded back to the budget?

fuck.

[YPrrrr]

Damn, that's horrible Snorkel... Things are always subject to change though so perhaps something unexpected will arise... It is rather sad how certain citizens seem to get preferential treatment despite the claim that all men are equal in the eyes of the US government

[Socks]

GE 2010 worldwide revenue 14+ billion. GE 2010 United States revenue 5+ billion. GE income tax, 0 $. GE tax benefit, 3.2 billion. That's right. Fuck this.

[applesauce]

The whole plea bargaining concept is shitty to begin with. If we are going to have a justice system, why not make it absolute? One gang member gets off free or with dramatically reduced charges because he turned three others in? How does that affect the nature of his crime?

It's also hard to believe that they would accept testimony from her against someone else after she has already had contradicting/retracted testimonies in the case against herself. But I suppose the gov't is wanting to make it look like they are cleaning up a mess and have it all under control, so they have to find enough people accountable, right?

I remember the first time I looked at the google results for my dad and how sad it made me. I remember reading the articles in the City Pages, ect. I remember the day the bank sent out foreclosure notices to over 500 tenants at properties he manages, IN ERROR. The big bright pink water shutoff notices on the buildings, ectectect. It fucking sucks.

[Hiro]

The whole plea bargaining concept is shitty to begin with. If we are going to have a justice system, why not make it absolute? One gang member gets off free or with dramatically reduced charges because he turned three others in? How does that affect the nature of his crime?

It doesn't change what he did, but without the reduced sentence they wouldn't be able to get key information and/or a confession out of the person.

[applesauce]

It doesn't change what he did, but without the reduced sentence they wouldn't be able to get key information and/or a confession out of the person.

Right, but while the justice system has to be focused on practicality, it would be nice if it could idealistic and standardized.