Petters Team Tries To Turn Recordings To Advantage

STEVE KARNOWSKI

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — An attorney for the Minnesota businessman accused of orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme attacked the credibility of the prosecution's star witness Wednesday, playing recordings in which she and other key figures in the case speculated about how much he knew about the scam.

Deanna Coleman, vice president of operations at Petters Co. Inc., ultimately blew the whistle on what authorities say was a $3.65 billion fraud by Tom Petters. She wore a wire to work after telling her story to federal investigators in September 2008.

In one conversation, Bob White, the chief financial officer of Petters Co. Inc. said to Coleman, "I can't tell for sure if Tom knows." Coleman responded: "Tom knows. He just doesn't want (to) think about it." She went on to say, "I think Tom believes that these are real deals half the time."

White answered, "I don't know for sure what Tom knows, you know, and he lives in his fantasy world once in a while."

Coleman, testifying for a third day in Petters' fraud trial, said they were joking in that conversation. And prosecutor Joe Dixon played a recording of a conversation between Coleman and Petters in which he made statements suggesting he did know what was going on, such as "I'm not talking like they're real POs (purchase orders)."