The former head of the Polaroid brand has been sentenced to 50 years in jail. Tom Petters, 52, masterminded a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme, which has landed him one of the biggest sentences in US fraud history.
In issuing the sentence, U.S. District Court Judge, Richard H. Kyle, said he was not convinced Petters wouldn’t commit further crimes if given a lesser sentence.
The sentence is the longest given for a financial fraud case in Minnesota history.
Petters was convicted of defrauding investors out of billions of dollars and property by convincing them to give the company money to purchase electronics goods for sale to retailers. Instead, Petters used the funds to make payments to other investors, fund his other businesses and for personal expenses.
Many of Petters’ co-conspirators have pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme, but have yet to be sentenced.
