In one or the more bizarre renditions of a Ripoff, Minneapolis attorney Doug Kelley has used the court system to perpetuate a fraud within a fraud.
Below is an abstract from a press release dated November 18. The release corresponds to a Federal Rico Lawsuit filed in Chicago the same day.
With the blessing of two federal judges, Attorney Kelly has established complete control over the Petters empire, including all of the valuable assets in Polaroid.in his control position, Kelley has been able to hire and enrich legions of attorneys, accountants and other professionals in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area. Among those professionals is his law partner, Steven Wolter, " the lawsuit states.
Kelley engineered his appointment as receiver for all the Petters companies, "without Kelley having disclosed that the Cook County Court had already appointed a receiver, " the complaint says.
"The entire process of Kelley's October 6 appointment as Receiver was highly irregular and denied PGW the benefit of any independent counsel, " the complaint says. "Rather than fulfilling his fiduciary obligations to the Petters companies he represented as attorney or his fiduciary obligations to PGW's creditors as its bankruptcy Trustee, Kelley cooperated with the Government's forfeiture plans. This cooperation, coupled with the apparent secrecy of the court proceedings, dictates the inference that Kelley has multiple conflicts of interest that have harmed PGW creditors like Plaintiffs, " the complaint says.
"Kelley has ignored the fraud alleged in the complaint and has apparently protected Jeffries and Chee-Awai and disregarded the harm they have caused to Plaintiffs, " the lawsuit states.
Petters "purchased the concurrence and connivance" of executives "by, among other things, paying Defendants and their co-conspirators millions of dollars in bonuses to ensure their continued cooperation, " the lawsuit states. "In his position as bankruptcy trustee, Kelley should presumably claw back these bonuses. Jeffries, however, in exchange for her cooperation with Kelley's plans to forfeit PGW's assets to the Government, has received undeserved praise from Kelley and has been allowed by Kelley to retain the multi-million dollar bonuses she received from Petters, " the lawsuit continues, notwithstanding the fact that Jeffries was Chief Operating Officer of PCI at a time when the only business conducted by PCI was a massive Ponzi scheme.
"Kelley's cooperation with the threatened forfeiture of legitimate PGW assets raises multiple conflicts of interest arising from Kelley's conflicting obligations as PCI's and PGW's attorney, as PCI's and PGW's Bankruptcy Trustee, and as Receiver for Petters, PCI, PGW and others including Deanna Coleman, who testified at Petters's trial that she received millions of dollars from Petters's fraud scheme, " the lawsuit states. "Kelley cannot fulfill his duty as Receiver to ensure that PGW's assets are available for forfeiture and simultaneously fulfill his statutory and fiduciary duties as Trustee for PGW to oppose forfeiture on behalf of PGW's creditors. Moreover, by acting as PCI's Receiver and attempting to remove assets from the PGW estate to benefit victims of the fraud at PCI (most of which victims are not otherwise legitimate creditors of PGW, as are Plaintiffs), Kelly cannot at the same time faithfully fulfill his statutory and fiduciary duties to PGW's creditors in his capacity as PGW's Trustee."
Kelley falsely stated in the bankruptcy proceedings that Ritchie's loans were made to PCI, rather than to PGW, the parent company of Polaroid in the Petters business empire, "in essence, implying that [Ritchie] and its funds had willingly supported the PCI Ponzi scheme, " the lawsuit states. Kelley's false statements triggered actions by a substantial lender to Ritchie that have caused million of dollars in damages to Ritchie, the lawsuit states.
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