The trial of Tom Petters is nearing an end, but in its wake comes the Stop the Petters Scam Foundation.
The new organization ran an advertisement Monday in the Star Tribune accusing unnamed "insiders" of raking in money from a Ponzi scheme Petters allegedly ran, while shortchanging ordinary investors who lost big sums to the Wayzata businessman.
The ad directs readers to stopthepettersscam.com, which purports to lay out a separate fraud scheme, complete with mug shots pinned to a cork board. A second ad is to run today.
Lew Phelps, a spokesman for Thane Ritchie, a major lender to Petters, said in an interview Monday that the foundation was started by Steve Denari, a political consultant in the Chicago area involved with what he considers to be unjust forfeitures. Denari did not return calls Monday seeking comment.
Garrett Vail, a Mahtomedi bankruptcy attorney, said the foundation is a project of the Coalition Against Unjust Seizure. (A Google search found no listing for the group.) Vail likened the liquidation of Petters' assets to the way property was mishandled by the disbanded Metro Gang Strike Force. Vail said he didn't know how many members the foundation has, but Phelps confirmed that Ritchie is one.
"Some of the Ritchie Capital entities are among the people who are members of that organization and are providing funds, but not the only ones by a long shot," Phelps said.
Other lenders to Petters are also members, he said, as are some of the investors in the investment funds that Ritchie manages.
Ritchie heads hedge fund advisory Ritchie Capital Management in Lisle, Ill. Ritchie claims to have lost more than $200 million, including accrued interest, from loans that his company made to Petters Group Worldwide. The short-term loans were secured by liens on intellectual property owned by Polaroid Corp., another of Petters' companies. Polaroid was sold for $85.9 million in bankruptcy last spring over Ritchie's objections.
