Federal prosecutors this week revealed a plot to murder a co-defendant involved in the second-largest Ponzi scheme in Minnesota history, saying in court documents they have a mountain of evidence to prove it.
In a motion filed Wednesday, the U.S. attorney's office said that Gerald Durand proposed to Christopher Pettengill that they arrange for the killing of Jason "Bo" Beckman in order to collect and split the proceeds of his life insurance policy. Prosecutors want to offer the evidence in a hearing before the three men and a fourth defendant, Patrick Kiley, are sentenced Jan. 3.
Doug Altman, Beckman's attorney, learned this week about the December 2009 murder plot, which was buried at the end of the government's presentencing document for Durand. During a meeting at a Perkins restaurant, Pettengill said he was stunned by Durand's proposal to "take out" Beckman and believed he was joking.
"Obviously I reported this to my client," Altman said. "I will be interested to see what develops at the hearing."
Judge Michael Davis may decide against allowing the allegations to be heard in court, something that Durand's attorney, Brian Toder, urged in a motion Thursday: "Given the untrustworthiness of Mr. Pettengill's potential, self-serving testimony, coupled with his natural disposition towards prevarication, the court should ... declare the allegations involving the imagined murder plot to be excluded from the court's consideration," Toder wrote.
Pettengill has pleaded guilty and has testified for the government in hopes of a reduced sentence.
The U.S. attorney's office had no comment.
Beckman, a self-described investment star, was convicted in June on 15 fraud and money-laundering charges related to a $194 million Ponzi scheme run by business associate Trevor Cook. The bogus currency-investment scheme bilked more than 700 investors nationwide, mostly retirees.