Minneapolis money manager Trevor Cook's wife avoids federal contempt citation

The wife of Minneapolis money manager Trevor Cook, who admitted to defrauding more than 1,000 investors in a $190 million investment scheme, narrowly avoided a federal contempt citation Wednesday for trying to sell her house without approval from a court-appointed receiver.

Gina Cook has displayed a pattern of contempt for the court's orders, said Tara Norgard, an attorney working with receiver R.J. Zayed to liquidate assets for Cook's investors.

Zayed has allowed Gina Cook -- who is not implicated in her husband's Ponzi scheme -- to live in their Apple Valley home until she can make other arrangements. She signed an agreement Wednesday admitting that she disregarded court orders and tried to sell her home without permission. She also agreed that the receiver would get up to $316,354 from the eventual sale of the home, an amount that's been traced to investor funds.

Cook, 35, looked on sheepishly as her attorney, Eric Olson, chalked up the dispute to a misunderstanding and some missed messages with the receivership. But when Olson and Norgard asked Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis to approve the agreement resolving the dispute, he cracked the whip.

"There's nothing in this order that protects the property," Davis said sharply. "She could destroy the property out of anger. It happens all the time in house disputes. The question is, why shouldn't she be put out of the house by Friday, and have her marched out of it so that I don't have any headaches about having holes punched in the walls and pipes sawed off?"

Davis said Gina Cook somehow missed the point when he ordered Trevor Cook to jail in January for civil contempt after he was caught concealing and spending receivership assets in defiance of court orders.

Olson insisted that Gina Cook has no intention of destroying the home. "I can assure you the house is in pristine condition," he told Davis.

The matter was resolved with a new agreement Wednesday afternoon in which Gina Cook agreed to an unsecured bond covering the receivership's interests in the house, among other provisions.

Gina Cook wanted to sell the house herself so that her credit rating won't take a hit from a forced sale, Olson said. She had the 4,300-square-foot home listed at $449,900 but has withdrawn the listing because of the dispute.

Federal law requires the court's approval and three appraisals before the house can be sold, Norgard said. The Cooks bought the home in 2005, paying $155,900 in cash and a $420,000 mortgage in Gina Cook's name. Records show that all but one of the mortgage payments came from accounts subject to the receivership, however.

Given the depressed housing market, Gina Cook probably won't get any money from the sale of the house. What's more, she appears to owe the receivership some money.

Receivership records show that Gina Cook invested $55,576 in her husband's failed currency scheme and withdrew $112,419 -- nearly all of it in late June.

Trevor Cook, who remains in custody, pleaded guilty two weeks ago to fraud and tax evasion charges in an agreement that requires his cooperation.