One phone call to the FBI on Sept. 8, 2008 put Minnesota on the map as the epicenter of a multi-million dollar ponzi scheme that defrauded investigators out of nearly $2 billion. Under the weight of potential consequences, Petters Investment Inc.
officer Deanna Coleman made the phone call to confess her involvement with Tom Petters in a 10-year, multi-billion dollar scheme. Her confession was countered with a request by the FBI. They wanted her to wear a wire.
Coleman agreed, and began to go about her regular business with Petters – all the while recording every word he said. Throughout the course of her assignment, she collected conversations in which Petters chronicled the history of the scheme — and ways to skirt responsibility, if the truth came to light. ADVERTISEMENT “Those recorded conversations chronicled the history of the scheme as well as the conspirators’ efforts to maintain the operation by obtaining new investors while lulling old ones,” an FBI press release states.
“ The recordings also detailed how the conspirators planned to avoid responsibility if the fraud was ever discovered.” The audio Coleman collected was crucial for the prosecution’s case against Petters. Yet it wasn’t the only leg the prosecution had to stand on.
The recordings were accompanied by recorded phone calls, e-mails, fraudulent records and testimony from an array of witnesses. Together, the information created the full picture necessary to convict Petters on Dec. 8, 2010 o.