The Star Tribune published the 1st in a 4 part series on Tom Petters today. The Article is called: CLOSEOUT – The Collapse of the Petters Empire written by David Phelps, Jon Tevilin, with contributions by Jennifer Bjorhus.
The article starts above the fold on the front page of the Star Tribune for Sunday October 26th, 2008. It begins by detailing his recent and present day fundraising efforts with high rolling celebrities and politicians such as Tim Pawlenty, Amy Klobuchar, Kevin Nealon, Michael Strahan, Nicole Murphy and Chris McDonald.
The article also takes readers back to Petters boyhood as the shopkeeper’s son, and details how he skipped school to sell electronics in downtown St. Cloud. It also details Petters borrowing of money and the refusal to repay, followed by some shady court dealings. Then followed a series of acquisitions and start ups, most primarily in the merchandising of electronics and or overstock.
Phelps and Tevlin (the writers of the article) continue by detailing warning signs that Hedge Fund companies were reluctant to invest money with Petters in that there were lies on a Dun & Bradstreet application about Petters graduating from St. Cloud State. The article goes on to detail Deanna Coleman’s betrayal of Petters and her alerting federal agents.
Make sure you go out and pick up a copy of the Strib today through Wednesday. You can also find more information about Petters and the case than you might know what to do with at www.startribune.com/petters.
Stay Tuned to Wayzata.com for all the latest info about people, places and things from the Wayzata community, like our neighbor Tom Petters.
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