Petters Asks US Supreme Court to Review Conviction

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Attorneys for Minnesota businessman Tom Petters are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review his 2009 conviction on charges that he orchestrated a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme.

The appeal to the nation's highest court represents Petters' last chance to reverse a process that took him from a sprawling Lake Minnetonka home to a federal prison cell in Leavenworth, Kansas.

His attorneys argue that the trial judge prevented them from exposing the criminal background of one of his co-defendants, Larry Reynolds, who had been in the government's witness protection program for previous crimes. They also say Petters' 50-year sentence was disproportionate to those of his counterparts.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals last year rejected an appeal he lodged on similar grounds.

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