Oct 20, 2008 9:51 pm US/Central
Attorneys: Tom Petters Not A Flight Risk
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
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Tom Petters, 51, the founder of Petters Group Worldwide is charged with fraud in an alleged multimillion-dollar investment scheme that prosecutors say spanned 14 years.
Sherburne County Jail
Attorneys for businessman Tom Petters are asking that a U.S. District Court judge review a magistrate's decision to keep him in custody.
Petters faces fraud charges. Authorities say he orchestrated a $3 billion fraud scheme over 14 years.
Earlier this month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Keyes ordered that Petters remain in custody until his trial. At the detention hearing, prosecutors played a recorded phone conversation in which Petters talked about ways of leaving the country.
In papers filed Monday, Petters' attorneys say he is not a flight risk and that the recorded conversation is "too thin a reed" on which to keep him in custody. They say the conversation was rambling, unfocused and that Petters could have been baited by an associate who was cooperating with the government.
They want a federal judge to consider releasing Petters with restrictions.
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Items federal agents seized at Tom Petters' Wayzata home in the fall of
2008 included $13,000 in cash, numerous credit cards, a .22 caliber
revolver and 11 high-end watches, including four Rolexes.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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