Alleged Minneapolis-Based Fraudster Trevor Cook Jailed for Failing to Surrender Assets in SEC Case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2010-12

Washington, D.C., Jan. 25, 2010 — A federal judge today ordered Minneapolis-area resident Trevor G. Cook jailed for failing to surrender more than $35 million in assets as a result of the Securities and Exchange Commission's fraud charges and asset freeze against him.

The SEC filed a motion last month in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, alleging that Cook had violated the court's order freezing all of his assets. In a court hearing that concluded today, Chief Judge Michael J. Davis found Cook in civil contempt and U.S. Marshals escorted Cook from the courtroom to jail. Chief Judge Davis ordered that Cook remain in jail until he is in compliance with the court's orders.

"Mr. Cook has elected to disregard the court's orders and will now be a guest of the federal correctional system until he mends his ways," said Merri Jo Gillette, Director of the SEC's Chicago Regional Office.

Chief Judge Davis ordered Cook incarcerated until he, among other things, surrenders $27 million located in offshore accounts, a BMW and two Lexus automobiles, a submarine, a houseboat, a collection of expensive watches, a collection of Faberge eggs, Bon Jovi concert tickets, and $670,000 in cash.

The SEC obtained the asset freeze on Nov. 23, 2009, when the Commission charged Cook, nationally syndicated radio host Patrick J. "Pat" Kiley, and four companies they controlled in an alleged $190 million foreign currency trading scheme. According to the SEC's complaint in the case, Cook and Kiley pooled investors' funds in bank and trading accounts in the names of entities they controlled. The foreign currency trading they did conduct resulted in millions of dollars in losses, and they misused approximately half of investor funds to make Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors and pay for Cook's gambling losses and the purchase of the historic Van Dusen Mansion in Minneapolis.

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