Holloran Center Program:
"Lessons Learned From the Failures of Others"

Hank Shea is a Senior Distinguished Fellow at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, MN and a Fellow at the School’s Thomas E. Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions. Shea, who has specialized in prosecuting a wide-range of corporate and other economic crimes, was a federal prosecutor for 20 years in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the
District of Minnesota.

Shea has appeared with more than a dozen white collar felons, most of whom he prosecuted, in more than 75 joint presentations at law schools, business schools, universities, colleges, and high schools, as well as business conferences and public forums. These felons -- former lawyers, government officials, bankers, brokers, and business executives -- are each willing to share their powerful, though often painful, stories of temptation, deceit, indulgence, ruin, and recovery.

Click HERE  to learn more about the format of these joint ethics presentations.

The following is a brief list of some of the persons who have made past presentations and who may be available in the future. If you are interested in hosting a presentation, please contact Hank Shea at hjshea@stthomas.edu.

PARTICIPANTS

Stephen Rondestvedt: LESSONS LEARNED THE HARD WAY	Stephen Rondestvedt, a lawyer, defrauded his vulnerable clients of more than $750,000. After pleading guilty to mail fraud, Rondestvedt was disbarred, sentenced to 46 months imprisonment and ordered to pay full restitution.
David Logan: THE COLLAPSE AND REBUILDING OF CHARACTER	David Logan was prosecuted, along with six others, for corporate and bank fraud offenses as a result of an extensive fraud and public corruption investigation in southwestern Minnesota. Logan was sentenced to 71 months imprisonment, $250,000 in extraordinary restitution, a $250,000 fine, and forfeiture of $250,000.
Richard Juliano: THE CONSEQUENCES OF PUBLIC CORRUPTION: AN INSIDER’S VIEW	Richard Juliano is a former key aide to former Illinois Governor George Ryan who was charged with mail fraud relating to Ryan's corrupt political activities between 1993 to 1998.  Juliano, a lawyer, cooperated in a wide-ranging federal investigation and pled guilty to a single felony count, later providing key testimony in the trials of the former Governor and his chief of staff. He was later sentenced to four years of probation (including three months of home detention) in the case.
Nick Ryberg: CORPORATE ETHICS AND COMPROMISE	Nick Ryberg was the Director of Human Resources and Refinery Services for Flint Hills Resources/Koch Industries, the largest privately held company in the country.  After leaving the company in 2003, Ryberg and his wife were sued by his former employer for fraudulent invoicing during the preceding four years.  Ryberg and his wife ultimately pled guilty to three counts of mail fraud.  He was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison along with a one million dollar criminal restitution order.
Carolyn Ryberg: FINDING FAITH THROUGH A FELONY	Carolyn Ryberg found success in banking and real estate, along with entrepreneurial ventures in the recruiting and interior design industries.  At the same time, she was raising two young daughters and was a trailing spouse due to her husband's corporate relocations around the country.  In 1999, at the suggestion of her husband, she opened a recruiting business to provide services to his employer.  What began as a conflict of interest quickly devolved into a fraud.  Following a protracted federal civil lawsuit, her case was referred to the U.S. Attorney's office and she pled guilty to mail fraud.  Carolyn was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison and full restitution.
John Motschenbacher: THE DANGERS AND RISKS OF WORKING IN AN UNETHICAL CORPORATE CULTURE	John Motschenbacher, the former CIO of BUCA, Inc., a national restaurant chain, was prosecuted for corporate fraud offenses and pled guilty to mail fraud. Motschenbacher cooperated with the FBI’s and SEC’s investigations of BUCA, and as a result, was sentenced to 12 months of home detention, 300 hours of community service, $146,000 in restitution, and a $25,000 fine.
Don Snede: LESSONS FROM A BEAT-UP, BATTERED AND BRUISED CFO	Don Snede was the Chief Financial Officer of Midwest Federal Savings and Loan, the second largest savings and loan in Minnesota with more than $3 billion in assets. Less than six years later, he pled guilty to three federal offenses in connection with the failure and collapse of that institution and testified throughout a six month jury trial against his former colleagues.
Jerome Mayne: LIFE SAVING LESSONS FROM A WHITE COLLAR CRIMINAL	Jerome Mayne was a mortgage loan officer at Norwest Mortgage before starting his own mortgage brokerage company. At the peak of his company’s success, Mayne was indicted by federal prosecutors and charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering—crimes that took place four years earlier during his employment at Norwest Mortgage. Mayne served a 21-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to mortgage fraud offenses.
Mark Wetsch: THE JOURNEY FROM CARE-GIVER TO CONVICTED FELON	Nursing Home Director Mark Wetsch was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison for stealing $1.5 million from the facility from 1997 to 2005. He used the money for home improvements, vacations, four vehicles, three snowmobiles, a private running coach, private school tuition, and tickets to sporting events, among other things.
Kristine Kelly: LESSONS FROM A CONVICTED CEO AND MOTHER	Kristine Kelly owned and operated a successful mortgage company in South Carolina for almost 12 years.  Her participation in a scheme to prepare fraudulent and inflated appraisals of homes led to a 119-count federal indictment. Kelly pled guilty to one count of mail fraud and was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment and ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution.
Thomas White: HOW AN ATTORNEY CAN LOSE EVERTHING BY “BORROWING” CLIENT FUNDS	Thomas White, a well-known Twin Cities lawyer, was prosecuted for misappropriating approximately $100,000 in client funds. Although White repaid the “borrowed” client funds in their entirety once they were detected missing since he had only used them to pay his legal staff and other business expenses during times of “cash flow difficulties,” he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.
Tom Balko: HOW I ENDED UP IN FEDERAL PRISON	Tom Balko was a successful real estate appraiser who, with a mortgage broker partner, started buying houses in a booming real estate market. They began using straw buyers to continue making more real estate acquisitions, even providing their nominee purchasers with funds for down payments and mortgage payments. Their fraudulent scheme ultimately came crashing down and they were prosecuted. Balko pled guilty to one count of mail fraud and was sentenced to 84 months imprisonment and order to jointly pay $11.7 million in restitution.

 Click HERE for a list of past "Lessons Learned" presentations.