Talk:Tom Petters

A fact from Tom Petters appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 15 October 2008, and was viewed approximately 3,157 times (disclaimer) (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that after his son was murdered during a study abroad program, entrepreneur Tom Petters formed a foundation to provide endowments that would benefit future students at several universities?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2008/October.

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Philanthropy Section?

Why have a section showing what a great guy he is if he is using illegally ill gotten proceeds (ie other peoples money) to give to these organizations. I propose once he is found guilty (when it looks like not if) that this section be removed or least be edited. Perhaps looking at Madoff's page for an example how to handle this cretin (same class of scum). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.56.25.30 (talk) 17:18, 26 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. There is no philanthropy here. His "donations" were other people's money. Deleted philanthropy section.

Also retitled "Legal troubles" section for more specificity. Avocats (talk) 16:46, 8 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, not everyone only focus on the bad he has done. Not all money he used for good causes was stolen. And people can remember him fondly before he turned to crime. His family does use the internet, you know. 75.160.48.238 (talk) 03:21, 19 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I was looking at the "Did You Know" link on the page only to realise that the information had been deleted! I've restored the Philanthropy and Award sections. The money may have been derived from a Ponzi scheme, but that doesn't mean that the John T. Petters Foundation etc never existed – anyone reading the article will clearly know where the money came from. The third paragraph of that section says as much anyway. Sillyfolkboy (talk) (edits)^{Join WikiProject Athletics!} 08:09, 24 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The link to reference #19 leads to an error (404) (I'm sorry if this isn't the proper place to put this). Thatbenguyisdoingitagain (talk) 23:11, 28 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Awards

While it may make sense to keep the philanthropy section simply to keep track of the millions of dollars of other people's money that Petters "donated," it makes no sense to keep a section listing minor awards that pretty clearly related from his donations of ill-gotten gains. I have deleted this section. Avocats (talk) 08:48, 19 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Prosecution, etc.

While lurid, the reference to Petters and his employee having been "intimate" at some point during their professional relationship doesn't add anything useful to the record of the prosecution. I deleted the sentence. Avocats (talk) 08:53, 19 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Fair use candidate from Commons: File:Thomas J Petters.jpg

The file File:Thomas J Petters.jpg, used on this page, has been deleted from Wikimedia Commons and re-uploaded at File:Thomas J Petters.jpg. It should be reviewed to determine if it is compliant with this project's non-free content policy, or else should be deleted and removed from this page. Commons fair use upload bot (talk) 14:46, 2 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]