After I wrote my November 28th, 2009 “Asset Search News Roundup” about Minneapolis money manager Trevor Cook, he was incarcerated on January 25, 2010 for civil contempt of court.  As the Court stated in its January 25, 2010 Opinion, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission previously filed for injunctive relief against Mr. Cook.

They sought injunctive relief because Mr. Cook had allegedly participated in a Ponzi-like securities fraud which might have involved at least $190 million taken from 1000 or more victims.  Also according to the January 25th Opinion, Mr. Cook violated a November 23, 2009 asset freeze by dissipating assets.  The Court therefore remanded Mr. Cook to jail until “he purges himself of the contempt” by turning over:

  • $27,061,728.35 in foreign accounts;
  • $670,000 in cash;
  • $62,000 transferred to Mr. Cook’s brother;
  • $6,141,470 paid to preferred persons;
  • $2,005,857.88 in domestic accounts;
  • $53,000 from the sale of a Maserati & Hummer;
  • a computer and documents formerly possessed by Mr. Cook’s assistant;
  • a houseboat & a submarine;
  • his BMW, Lexus 430 & Lexus SUV;
  • his Bon Jovi tickets purchased in 2009;
  • and his collections of Faberge eggs and watches;

Furthermore, the Court’s minutes reveal that Mr. Cook was still in contempt as recently as last Monday:

On November 23, 2009 the Court had also appointed R.J. Zayed, Esq. as the Receiver over estate assets belonging to Mr. Cook and others in this case.  A  February 16, 2010 application for fees suggests that Receiver Zayed is trying to interdict Receivership assets in Mr. Cook’s case by working with: private investigators from Waypoint Inc., forensic computer examiners, local counsel in Panama, etc.

Pages 6-10 of the Receiver’s March 4, 2010 “Second Status Report” additionally indicated that there were Receivership assets in the form of real property located in Panama and Canada.  The above-mentioned January 25th Order too showed that $27,061,728.35 in Receivership assets had seemingly been maintained by Mr. Cook in foreign bank accounts.  This suspected use of foreign bank accounts and other offshore elements, means that Receiver Zayad could be relegated to forced collection proceedings in multiple jurisdictions.

These are the same kinds of proceedings Madoff Trustee Irving Picard eventually had to pursue.  Trustee Picard for example, explained at pp. 27-30 ¶¶ 93-100 of his July 9, 2009 First Interim Report, that Madoff estate assets were parked in: England, Gibraltar, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Ireland, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Spain.  Forced collection proceedings are generally available across the globe and can involve the legal remedies outlined by Swiss counsel at “An Asset Search In Geneva“.

Copyright 2010 Fred L. Abrams