Holloran Center to Host Public Forum Nov. 10 on the Tom Petters Ponzi Scheme Case

In a public discussion format designed for substantial audience interaction, the University of St. Thomas will host an upcoming forum on “Unweaving a Tangled Web: Inside the Petters Ponzi Scheme.”                                            

Hosted by the university’s law school, the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, and the St. Thomas Student Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, the free public forum will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 10, in the Schulze Grand Atrium at the St. Thomas School of Law in downtown Minneapolis.

The event brings together prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers involved in the Petters trial and related cases to share their views on the ethical, legal and policy considerations at play in untangling the $3.65 billion fraud.

Panel participants:

Allan Caplan is a founding partner of Caplan Law Firm P.A., one of the largest criminal defense firms in the Midwest. Caplan represented executive-turned-informant Deanna Coleman.

Joe Friedberg is a defense attorney whose cases and clients include the Coleman-Franken election contest and Randy Moss. Friedberg represented Robert White, the document falsifier sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the scheme.

Doug Kelley is the President of Kelley & Wolter P.A., a litigation firm concentrating on white collar criminal defense and complex commercial disputes. Kelley is the court-appointed receiver and trustee in the Petters bankruptcy.

John Marti, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, was a co-prosecutor in the Petters trial.

Acting as moderator will be Joe Dixon, assistant U.S. attorney, who co-prosecuted the Petters trial and is an adjunct professor at the St. Thomas School of Law.

Sponsors for the event are the Federal Bar Association student chapters (of all four Minnesota law schools), and at St. Thomas the Criminal Law Society, the Business and Corporate Law Society, the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions and the School of Law.

The forum is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested. To register for the event and for more information visit the Holloran Center website.

-30-