BULLETIN: The FBI will administer a lie-detector test to Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook. Meanwhile, his July 26 sentencing date may be delayed, a source told the PP Blog.
The date upon which the test will be administered was not immediately clear. The source, however, suggested that Cook could be subjected to the polygraph as early as tomorrow.
Under the terms of Cook’s April agreement in which he pleaded guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion in a $190 million Ponzi scheme case involving more than 1,000 investors, Cook is required to take a polygraph exam “[i]f requested by the government.”
Victims have expressed fears that Cook, 38, has hidden money from the scheme and could emerge from prison in his early sixties to reclaim the loot. The scheme was operated out of Minneapolis.
R.J. Zayed, the court-appointed receiver in the case, has recommended that the government administer the lie-detector test, according to his website.
Victims arranged a meeting with prosecutors, and the polygraph became a topic of conversation, according to a source who has knowledge about the meeting. Prosecutors have instructed the FBI to administer the test.
The Cook case has turned into an international paper chase. Zayed has served court orders on more than 400 financial institutions.
“We also have served subpoenas on approximately 250 individuals and institutions,” Zayed noted on his website. He added that he expects investor losses to top $139 million.
FBI Director Robert Mueller has warned Congress at least twice this year about the increasing complexities of white-collar crime, including criminals’ reliance on shell companies and a “shadow” banking system to frustrate efforts to detect and unravel schemes.
Cook was at the center of an international fraud scheme, part of which involved companies with confusingly similar names, according to court filings.
Victims have said they fear he is incapable of telling the truth.