Well, it’s been eight days since Tom Petters was declared guilty on 20 counts of felony fraud. And the series of print ads pointing fingers at business associates of Petters and government prosecutors keeps growing and growing.

When we first visited this subject, we wrote about Minneapolis adman Bill Hillsman, head of North Woods Advertising, creating ads for the so-called Stop the Petters Scam Foundation, which ran a series of finger-pointing newspaper ads in the Minneapolis Star Tribune during jury deliberations.

The jury’s in, but the folks paying to place the ads still seem to have some extra cash to keep them coming. Not to mention the group, whose newspaper ads also are posted on the website www.stopthepettersscam.com, had some ads left on overset.

The Star Tribune earlier this week refused to keep running the ads because North Woods Advertising didn’t sign an advocacy advertising form before the series of ads started running.

That didn’t stop the series of ads from continuing, first on the group’s website with a “Censored by the Star Tribune” tag on them, then, on Thursday, putting a “Now in the (St. Paul) Pioneer Press” notice on both ads censored by the Star Tribune.

Thursday’s ad continued the finger-pointing by the Petters Scam Foundation, which is backed by Ritchie Capital Management LLC, a company that lost millions in the Ponzi scheme Petters was convicted of masterminding.

It highlights Larry Reynolds, a convicted con in the federal witness protection program, and his role helping Petters defraud investors of billions of dollars.

Like all the other ads in the series, Thursday’s ad teases an upcoming Friday ad, which, it claims, will outline “how the misdeed of the Metro Gang Strike Force resemble the government’s handling of the Petters case.”

Look for it in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

MINNEAPOLIS — The attorney for convicted Minnesota businessman Tom Petters says their fight is “far from over” and they plan to appeal.

Jon Hopeman said Thursday that Petters is “doing very well” despite being found guilty on Wednesday of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Hopeman says they can’t file their appeal until U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle sentences Petters, which Hopeman expects will happen in two to four months. Petters likely faces 30 year to life in prison.

Hopeman also says that while Petters’ family couldn’t make it to the courthouse in time to hear the verdict, they’re standing by him with “unconditional love” and say they’ll support him no matter what.

Tom Petters plans to appeal the verdict that found him guilty on all 20 counts for his role in orchestrating a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Petters’ defense attorney, Jon Hopeman, told the AP his client’s push to win the case “is far from over.” Petters can’t officially appeal the decision until his sentencing, which is expected to occur in the next two months.

Throughout his trial, Petters maintained his innocence, saying it was his former employees and associates who committed the fraud without his knowledge.

A federal jury found him guilty Wednesday afternoon. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

After 30-plus hours of waiting for the jury in the Petters fraud trial to bring in a verdict, after waiting in the Jury Assembly room on the ground floor of the Federal Courthouse in Saint Paul, after sketching the live feed from the empty courtroom on the seventh floor on the flat-screeen monitor, after sketching details of the Jury Assembly Room like the microphone, and the reporters waiting for the verdict in the Jury Assembly Room, after sketching the railroad lift bridge over the Mississippi, after hearing defense attorney Jon Hopeman say the deliberations could go three hours or thirty days, after sketching the televsion news truck and the truck’s boom antenna from the seventh floor and the seventh floor and the photos of judges on the seventh floor and the bored, dozing witness from another trial on the seventh floor… just when I was starting to get really bored, we got the word at four o’clock that the jury had reached a decision.

Judge Kyle read the verdict;, guilty on all twenty counts.

Tom Petters showed no emotion as judge completed the formalities and dismissed the jury.

Tom Petters awaits sentencing for his a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme.

A jury today found Tom Petters guilty of all 20 felony counts, ending the largest fraud case in Minnesota state history.

Petters, wearing a dark gray suit, white shirt and burgundy tie, showed no emotion as the verdict was read late this afternoon by U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle. Sentencing is expected in a couple of months.

Petters, 52, a well-known entrepreneur who founded Petters Group Worldwide and ran the empire from his Minnetonka headquarters, watched it all collapse a year ago.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated more than 30 hours to reach a verdict following a 17-day trial filled with weeping witnesses, confrontational cross-examinations and several hours of secretly taped recordings from Petters’ corporate offices.The 20 felony fraud counts stem from a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme that imploded in September 2008 after more than 50 federal agents from the IRS and FBI raided Petters’ corporate headquarters in Minnetonka.

He had portrayed one of his businesses — Petters Co. Inc. — as a buyer and seller of massive amounts of consumer electronics. While investors believed the business to be highly lucrative, prosecutors showed that very little real merchandise ever changed hands, and the scheme depended on constant, huge inflows of cash from new investors.

The jury rejected Petters’ contention that associates had orchestrated the scheme without his knowledge. Petters had taken the stand during the trial, engaging in

ST. PAUL, Minn.—Deliberations in the fraud trial of Minnesota businessman Tom Petters resumed for a fifth day Wednesday.

The jury broke Tuesday evening after spending about 24 1/2 hours discussing the charges and evidence in the case since closing arguments last week.

The jurors have to decide whether Petters is guilty or not on each of the 20 individual counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy and money laundering against him. The exhibits available to them include many hours of audio recordings and dozens of boxes of documents.

Petters denies he was responsible for a Ponzi scheme at Petters Co. Inc. that cost investors more than $3.5 billion. He says other defendants in the case perpetrated the scheme without his knowledge.

St. Paul, Minn. — A Florida investment company has filed for bankruptcy protection, stating it lost more than $1 billion in the Ponzi scheme allegedly led by Minnesota businessman Tom Petters.

Palm Beach Finance Partners says it invested “substantial amounts of monies” with the Petters Company, Inc, in Chapter 11 papers filed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The filing comes as jurors continued to deliberate in the Petters fraud trial. Petters has been accused of running a massive Ponzi scheme that cost investors more than $3.5 billion. He has been charged with 20 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Petters claims other defendants carried out the fraud without his knowledge, then testified against him in hopes of lighter sentences.

The jury reconvenes Tuesday in federal court in St. Paul.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Jurors have begun their fourth day of deliberations in the fraud trial of Minnesota businessman Tom Petters.

Petters is accused of running a Ponzi scheme that cost investors more than $3.5 billion. The charges include wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Jurors who got the case last week have already deliberated for 17 hours. They’re working through a 20-count indictment and 49 pages of jury instructions.

Petters claims other defendants in the case carried out the fraud without his knowledge, then testified against him in hopes of lighter sentences.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The government no longer is suing to seize bank accounts and other assets of an Indianapolis businessman whom it alleged was operating a Ponzi scheme.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Indianapolis on Monday filed papers to dismiss a lawsuit to seize property belonging to Timothy Durham, including a 30,000-square-foot home on Geist Reservoir and a 2008 Bugatti sports car.

Acting U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison says he dropped the case because he’s been assured Durham will not try to shed the assets.

FBI agents last week raided the offices of Durham businesses, Obsidian Enterprises of Indianapolis and Fair Financial of Akron, Ohio.

A recent Indianapolis Business Journal story questioned whether Fair Financial could repay people who bought nearly $200 million in investment certificates.

All was quiet today as the jury continued to deliberate.