I looked up Fidelis on the Minnesota Secretary of State website (the MN Attorney General's website still has the Plymouth address). Here's a screenshot from the SoS site:
People sometimes ask me "whatever happened to Vennes attorney & lobbyist Craig Howse? Howse who used to describe his publicity-shy client this way: “The folks that are behind this don’t like drawing a lot of attention to themselves". Of course, we now know why Frank Vennes wanted to hide in the shadows.
Much of Frank's phony generosity (which his defence attorney Jim Volling touted at the Vennes sentence hearing) flowed through the Fidelis Foundation which has the double-dubious distinction of being mentioned in the superseding indictment of Tom Petters and the letter supporting a pardon for Frank Vennes penned by failed presidential candidate Michele Bachmann who was the recipient of boatloads of campaign contributions from Vennes, his family and associates including Craig Howse. Howse's law firm also received a mention in his client's indictment. The office for Fidelis used to be right next door to Howse's firm in Plymouth.
Michele Bachmann lauded the Fidelis Foundation in her pardon request for Frank Vennes Jr.:
Bachmann wrote:
“As a U.S. Representative, I am confident of Mr. Vennes’ successful rehabilitation and that a pardon will be good for the neediest of society. Mr. Vennes is seeking a pardon so that he may be further used to help others. As I know from personal experience, Mr. Vennes has used his business position and success to fund hundreds of nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping the neediest in our society. The Fidelis Foundation, backed by Mr. Vennes, has directed over $10.7 million in total gifts in the last three years, and the Fidelis Foundation has ranked #6, #9 and #7 as the largest grant-making foundation in Minnesota over the past three years.”
The Fidelis Foundation is a Plymouth, Minn.-based nonprofit organization “organized to assist Christians in discerning, clarifying and implementing God’s call and direction in their life,” according to the group’s tax filings. Its chairman is G. Craig Howse, Vennes’ lawyer, and the organization leases office space from Howse for $1,300 a month.
Howse has donated $5,000 to Bachmann’s campaign committee since 2007.
A list of wire communications are presented as evidence in the Petters Ponzi case (see superseding indictment of Tom Petters (PDF)). Among them this mention of a wire transfer of $4,060,000 from the Fidelis Foundation to "PCI's account". PCI is Petters Company Incorporated.
The latest #990 for 2012 still lists Vennes lawyer & lobbyist Craig Howse as chairman.
Here's some old Vennes Info posts about Mr. Howse:
Palm Beach Finance Trustee Settlement With Vennes Attorney Craig Howse
Vennes Lawyer/Lobbyist Craig Howse Continues to Trouble the Waters of Deer Lake
Vennes Lobbyist in 2007: “The folks that are behind this don’t like drawing a lot of attention to themselves"
The late Karl Bremer's Ripple in Stillwater blog has a great deal about the Fidelis Foundation.
