Pat Kiley, who used his radio program, "Follow the Money," to hawk Trevor Cook's fraudulent currency investment program, has fired his attorney, citing irreconcilable differences.
According to documents filed Monday in federal court, Kiley fired Minneapolis criminal defense attorney Peter Wold on Aug. 5. Wold says in court filings that Kiley has stopped communicating with him about "substantive matters" related to two civil lawsuits that federal regulators filed last fall against Cook, Kiley and several of their associates.
Wold declined to comment. But Kiley confirmed that he cut the cord.
"I fired him. You're damned straight I did," Kiley, 72, said in a brief telephone interview Monday. Kiley would not give any reasons for the rift.
But an investor who spoke with him recently said Kiley told him that he was uncomfortable with Wold in part because Cook had paid his $110,000 fee. The investor, who asked not to be identified, said Kiley told him that he wants to cooperate with federal authorities investigating Cook's fraud scheme, but has kept his mouth shut on the advice of his attorney.
Kiley, a longtime associate of Cook's, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when questioned by the court-appointed receiver trying to locate and liquidate Cook's assets.
About 1,000 people invested more than $190 million in Cook's Ponzi scheme, which he ran out of the Van Dusen mansion in Minneapolis and from a home he owned in Burnsville, where Kiley produced his radio program.
Cook is the only person who has been charged in connection with the scheme. He was sentenced last week to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $160 million in restitution. Cook said he's cooperating with authorities.
