Thread: Sign of the times - ponzi pimps found guilty

TwinCities.com Pioneer Press is reporting:

Jurors on Tuesday convicted three men who helped Trevor Cook in his Minneapolis-based, $194 million Ponzi scheme, which claimed more than 700 victims around the country.

The five-week U.S. District Court trial of Jason "Bo" Beckman, 42; Gerald Durand, 61; and Pat Kiley, 73, ended with a long list of guilty verdicts and U.S. marshals taking all three into custody.

The men had been charged in Minneapolis with a total of 31 overlapping federal criminal counts, including mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, tax fraud and tax evasion.

The fraud scheme they helped run targeted investors ranging from millionaires to retirees with modest nest eggs. Cook pleaded guilty in 2010 and is serving a 25-year federal prison sentence.

His former associates instead chose to go to trial.

And with a large crowd looking on in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Michael Davis on Tuesday, June 12, the court clerk read off 22 guilty verdicts against Beckman, 20 against Durand and 15 against Kiley.

L to R. Jason "Bo" Beckman, 42; Gerald Durand, 61; and Pat Kiley, 73

Read the full report on TwinCities.com

Now thats what I like to see! I hope in the future the Feds go after the pimps just as hard as they do as the masterminds and lock them up and throw out the key. I certainly hope this is a trend. I despise the pimps as much if not more than the masterminds of these scams.

Will the officials go after the ones who promoted ASD and all Bowdoin's schemes???

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Andy Bowdoin Jailed After Bond-Revocation Hearing; AdSurfDaily President In Federal Custody

Sorry I missed a few days but was glad to get this news yesterday!!

Originally Posted by scratchycat

Will the officials go after the ones who promoted ASD and all Bowdoin's schemes???

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Andy Bowdoin Jailed After Bond-Revocation Hearing; AdSurfDaily President In Federal Custody

I wish I knew the answer to that "scratchy." The fact that they have gone after three of the biggest CEP promoters and given them long sentences suggests that there will be justice for the biggest Bowdoin pimps.

These guys weren't CEP promoters, Judy.

They were pushing a far bigger scam, the $194 million Trevor Cook fraud

Originally Posted by littleroundman

These guys weren't CEP promoters, Judy.

They were pushing a far bigger scam, the $194 million Trevor Cook fraud

I only knew about Trevor Cook's autosurf but they certainly pushed that part of his empire very hard. Bo Beckman was the owner of 13DailyPro which was one of the biggest autosurfs to bite the dust. I know the name Pat Kiley but I can not remember the context of which I heard of him. I think he may have been the man who made videos saying that Trevor Cook's arrest was a big mistake and that his lawers would have him out very soon. I remember quite a lot about 13DailyPro and the forums which pushed that.

Minnesota United States Attorneys' Office

Twin Cities Business - Radio Host Pat Kiley Gets 20 Yrs. In Cook Ponzi Scheme

Patrick Kiley, a 75-year-old Burnsville man and former radio host, was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Trevor Cook.

Kiley, who had long argued that he is innocent, was sentenced on 12 counts of wire and mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering, according to Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney’s office. Kiley and his co-defendants in the case, who were previously sentenced, were also ordered to pay $155.4 million in restitution to victims of the fraud.

Cook was sentenced in 2010 to 25 years in prison for running a $190 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded hundreds of investors. Between 2005 and 2009, Cook and his co-conspirators allegedly solicited investors to put money in a foreign currency trading program that they said would earn a double-digit rate of return, typically between 10.5 and 12 percent annually, with little or no risk, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The men also claimed investor assets would be held in a separate account and could be withdrawn at any time, although that was not the case.

Kiley, a Christian radio host, solicited investors for the fraud scheme through his radio talk show, which was carried on more than 200 stations across the country, Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney’s office said. He allegedly asked listeners to avoid financial ruin by handing over their life savings to his company for investment.

Kiley—along with Jason “Bo” Beckman of Plymouth and Gerald Durand of Faribault—was convicted in June 2012. Beckman was subsequently sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. Co-conspirators Gerald Durand and Christopher Pettengill, meanwhile, were sentenced to 20 years and 7.5 years, respectively, for their roles in the scheme.

Kiley’s radio program was called Follow the Money, and it was broadcast on many Christian radio channels, according to a Star Tribune report. Kiley told the judge that what he once believed about Cook’s investment product turned out to be incorrect, and he said that he was prepared to take his punishment, the newspaper reported.