Klobuchar denies Bills' charge she went easy on Petters

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar's opponent Kurt Bills is pointing to report on the conservative Daily Caller website that suggests Klobuchar, former Hennepin county attorney, had enough evidence in the late 1990s to prosecute now-convicted Ponzi scheme leader Tom Petters, but she declined to prosecute, MPR reports. But her re-election campaign says the allegations are "inaccurate."

In the Daily Caller story, Bills says: "Reports surfaced that, while Hennepin County Attorney, Amy Klobuchar may have caught Petters committing fraud and chose not to prosecute him. Petters went on to perpetrate one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history, costing people over $3 1/2 billion."

But that's an empty, false charge, Klobuchar's team said Monday, the Pioneer Press reports.

"Sen. Klobuchar did not ask her county attorney staff or law enforcement to refrain from investigating or prosecuting Tom Petters," Klobuchar spokesman Linden Zakula. "She was not presented with evidence for prosecution of charges against him."

The Hennepin County attorney's office backed that, saying no law enforcement agency ever presented a case to them against Petters, the Pioneer Press reports. Petters was later convicted in a federal court and sentenced to 50 years in prison.