WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and SportsTestimony ends in Petters case; closings Monday
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Associated Press - November 20, 2009 11:24 AM ET
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Testimony has ended in the billion-dollar fraud trial of Minnesota businessman Tom Petters, but a jury won't begin deliberating his fate until next week.
Judge Richard Kyle scheduled closing arguments and jury instructions for Monday.
The fourth week of proceedings wrapped up with Petters testifying that a 2008 raid on his business by federal agents was unnecessary. Petters says he was talking with his lawyers and was about to go to authorities on his own.
Petters testified that he had suspected fraud within Petters Co. Inc. but didn't know the extent of it until his aide Deanna Coleman told him about it on Sept. 9, 2008.
Coleman was wearing a wire at the time because she had already gone to federal authorities. Petters says Coleman and others carried out a Ponzi scheme without his knowledge.
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