"Chemiker" > wrote in message
...
> Tom Petters, the golden boy of Petters Group Worldwide and marketer
> of
> such brands as Sun Country Airlines, Polaroid and Sunbeam
> Refrigerators, was convicted earlier this year on a variety of
> charges
> related to the development of his financial empire. Recently he was
> sentenced to 50 years in prison. I believe the majority of his
> properties, both personal and commercial, have been seized.
>
> A summary of the story is he
>
> http://www.ask.com/wiki/Tom_Petters
>
> Alex, who bought one his so-called Sunbeam refrigerators, which
> failed.

There were many stories in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He was
convicted of fraud for running a large ponzi scheme. One scheme was
alleged to be where he got investors to give him money so he could buy
consumer electronics goods cheap that would then be resold at a
profit. Only there were no such goods and they were never sold and
the payoffs came from the investments of later investors.

He also had some companies that engaged in actual business like the
ones mentioned.