A StarTribune article says that Trevor Cook’s currency program fraud was the second-largest Ponzi scheme in Minnesota history. The article too mentions that prosecutors have accused one of the scheme’s participants, Gerald Durand, of a murder-for-insurance plot.  The suspected plot surfaced at the “Government’s Motion For An Evidentiary Hearing Regarding Durand“, filed December 26, 2012 in U.S.A. v. Beckman, et al., U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, Index No. 11-cr-00228.  As more fully set forth by a December 27th court filing, Mr. Durand’s defense counsel calls the murder plot “imagined” and claims “…the government, at the eleventh hour, has its snitch cry bloody murder.

Meanwhile, the court-appointed receiver tasked with recovering Trevor Cook’s Ponzi scheme proceeds, published statistics about the scheme’s 724 damaged investors.   The statistics are accompanied by a graph, adding insight into the demographics of the damaged investors:

Chart Courtesy of: The Cook, Kiley & Beckman Receiverships

Copyright 2013 Fred L. Abrams