Where is Kurt Bills Getting this Stuff?

I was listening to Kurt Bills on Almanac when he said Petters Trustee Doug Kelley was "Petters' lawyer".

I'm guessing Kurt Bills has been reading the vintage  Stop the Petters Scam website. Maybe the Petters-Fraud website too. Or maybe they watched "The Second Fraud" movie - trailer below:




I really don't care about the allegations coming from the Kurt Bills campaign except this; if Kurt Bills is going to dredge up a lot of old, rehashed stuff, he should be honest and transparent about where he found it so people can read for themselves and decide.

If those websites were the source of the allegations, of course the Kurt Bills campaign cherry-picked what they found on those websites. There are more politicos from BOTH parties mentioned on those websites. As yet, nothing about Petters' financier Frank Vennes (mentioned on both those websites) has emerged as a campaign issue in this election.

The Petters Ponzi Scheme Becomes Campaign Issue in MInnesota Senate Race

In my previous post, I mentioned how the right-wing tried to blame the success of Tom Petters Ponzi scheme on Senator Amy Klobuchar. Senator Klobuchar's opponent Kurt Bills has posted his first TV ad on You Tube making the allegations part of his campaign:




Haven't we seen these allegations before?:

I'm more interested, frankly, in the weird and marginally ethical ads running in the Star Tribune, paid for by an organization called the Stop the Petters Scam Foundation. You can view the ads here at their Web site. They purport to tell the REAL story behind the Petters case and how it's being handled in the courts. The ads make thinly veiled allegations of impropriety against public figures such as Norm Coleman, Amy Klobuchar and in today's ad, federal District Judge Ann Montgomery.

Today's ad, for example, doesn't actually say that Montgomery did improper judicial favors for a former colleague, Petter's attorney Doug Kelley, but it absolutely implies it, leaving the reader with the impression that Montgomery's a crook (just like Kelley, et al). The ad concludes with a reference to "one national bankruptcy law expert" -- of course, unnamed -- who says Montgomery's conduct in regard to judicial immunity for Kelley "is unprecedented in the bankruptcy context."

Here's a quote from Doug Kelley from MPR:

That trustee, Doug Kelley, said the allegations in Bills' ad are preposterous. "To base a serious ad on testimony which has been so thoroughly discredited is irresponsible," Kelley said. "I would expect a serious candidate for high office in this state to go out and be careful about allegations such as that." Kelley, who said he is a lifelong Republican, said Osskopp approached him earlier this year to see if he had anything the campaign could use against Klobuchar. Kelly said he told Osskopp he was barking up the wrong tree.

Doug Kelley's law firm is representing former Minnesota Chairman Tony Sutton which makes this tweet  from Sutton's wife ironic:

Also read about the guy making the allegations over at Left.mn.

Daily Caller Source Accused U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones of having " aided and harbored a $50 bn Ponze swindle"

I had a few things to say in the City Pages Blotter about a pathetic October surprise some right-wingers cooked up with the right-wing website The Daily Caller about Tom Petters and Amy Klobuchar.

Naturally, these right-wingers are not interested in other politicians named in connection to the Petters scam such as the prominent politician in another Daily Caller article from a while back.

The Daily Caller's source is Richard Hettler. Here is a klassy tweet from Mr. Hettler accusing U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones of having " aided and harbored a $50 bn Ponze swindle"

 

Palm Beach Trustee: General Electric Capital Conspired With Tom Petters to Defraud Investors

The attorney for the Palm Beach Finance Trustee filed a civil suit  (PDF) against GE Capital, one of the world's biggest financial firms  alleging GE Capital employees knew that Tom Petters was running a Ponzi scheme way back "on or about October 24, 2000" and did nothing to stop it:

GECC would remain silent about its discovery of the Conspiracy and assist in its continued fraudulent concealment. Petters would cause GECC to be paid from new, defrauded lenders rather than from the proceeds of legitimate operations.

Even worse, the document alleges GE Capital helped Tom Petters recruit more victims with a recommendation letter addressed to "Whom it May Concern" (see screenshot of the letter below).

Here's the part that mentions the role Vennes played in the scheme involving the letter:

In 2002, Vennes introduced the principals of the general partner of the Palm Beach Funds to Petters. Petters used his former relationship with GECC as a strategic selling point, representing to the Palm Beach Funds through Vennes and Vennes’ Minnesota legal counsel, that the GECC-Petters business relationship ended: (i) profitably for both sides; (ii) with appropriate and ordinary documentation; and (iii) because GECC wanted to be Petters’ sole lender but Petters refused. 

The Recommendation Letter was shared by Petters with Vennes. Vennes in turn waxed poetic about the successful Petters-GECC relationship as a part of his efforts to convince the Palm Beach Funds to lend to Petters. Vennes’ representations to the Palm Beach Funds in regards to Petters’ “excellent” relationship with GECC were influenced by the Recommendation Letter. The Palm Beach Funds, through its agent, justifiably relied upon these representations. 

These representations were false and Petters and GECC knew them to be when made.

Here is the infamous letter that GE Capital's  Richard Menczynski gave Petters to use to  convince victims to give money to Petters:

NOTE: The PBF Trustee is seeking the total losses of the Palm Beach funds (approximately $1.1 Billion) plus punitive damages.