Petters Guilty Of $3.65 Billion Fraud

Minnesota businessman and hedge fund manager Thomas Petters has been convicted of running a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme.

A St. Paul, Minn., federal jury delivered its verdict yesterday after five days of deliberations. Petters was found guilty on all 20 counts of fraud and money laundering.

Petter’s fraud, which came to light just months before the much larger Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernard Madoff collapsed, involved selling bogus notes linked to consumer electronics sales which prosecutors say never actually happened.