Law firm that represented man convicted in Ponzi scheme accused of conspiracy to commit fraud

A company that claims it lost $31 million in a Ponzi scheme is suing the legal counsel of a convicted felon and a pair of executives, accusing them of conspiracy to commit fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and aiding and abetting.

Ritchie Capital Management LLC, Ritchie Capital Management Ltd. and Ritchie Special Credit Investments Ltd. filed a lawsuit Sept. 19 in the Cook County Circuit Court against Fredrikson & Byron P.A., Simon Root, John Koneck, Timothy E. Takesue and Miguel A. Martinez Jr.

According to the complaint, Frederikson & Byron, Root and Koneck served as legal counsel to convicted felon Thomas Petters during his fraudulent activities and decade-long Ponzi scheme, which allegedly included a 2008 transaction that defrauded Ritchie Capital out of $31 million.

The plaintiffs accuse the defendants of conspiring to convince Ritchie Capital to front money for a supposed resale of a large number of PlayStations to uBid and Costco.

According to the lawsuit, Takesue and Martinez, executives of www.ubid.com at the time, participated in the scheme by providing phony PlayStation purchase orders.

Ritchie Capital Management is seeking $31 million in damages and is being represented in the case by attorneys Swanson, Martin & Bell LLP and Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard P.A.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2013L010488.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.