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Prosecutors Oppose Moving Petters Trial

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Mar 16, 2009 6:52 am US/Central

Prosecutors Oppose Moving Petters Trial

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ― Federal prosecutors are opposing Tom Petters' attempt to get his fraud trial moved out of Minnesota.

The Wayzata businessman is accused of running a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme. He's pleaded not guilty, and his legal team asked last month that his trial be moved to Wisconsin or Iowa. They said he wouldn't get a fair trial due to all the media attention in Minnesota.

Now the U.S. attorney's office has filed a response. It says there's no reason to move the trial out of state. It says a change of venue would impose additional costs on taxpayers and victims, and that it would be due to pretrial publicity that Petters himself fostered.

Petters is charged with fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. His trial is set to start in June. A pretrial hearing on the change of venue and other motions is set for Wednesday.

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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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.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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