Tom Petters
Minnesota businessman, Tom Petters, was convicted of massive business fraud in 2009 and sentenced to 50 years in prison, a sentence he is still serving in United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth. As part of a number of business enterprises, Petters ran his Ponzi scheme by inviting investors to put up capital that would allow him to buy large stocks of retail products.
The profit was expected to come from selling on this stock to retailers but, in truth, Petters just took the investments in waves as Charles Ponzi had done. His federal convictions cited a $3.65 billion scheme. At the time of his conviction, no larger scam had ever been recorded in the state of Minnesota.
