Money manager jailed for defying SEC asset freeze

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Minneapolis investment manager accused of running a $190 million Ponzi-type scheme was ordered jailed on Monday for failing to surrender more than $35 million of assets, including Bon Jovi concert tickets, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said.

The SEC obtained an emergency court order in November freezing the assets of Trevor Cook, whom it accused of bilking more than 1,000 investors through a foreign currency trading scheme.

U.S. District Judge Michael Davis found Cook in civil contempt on Monday and ordered him jailed until he complies with court orders requiring him to surrender $27 million of offshore accounts, a BMW and two Lexus automobiles, a submarine, a houseboat, a collection of watches, a collection of Faberge eggs, Bon Jovi concert tickets, and $670,000 of cash, according to the SEC.

"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," Merri Jo Gillette, director of the SEC's Chicago regional office, said in a statement.

Last year the SEC charged Cook, syndicated radio host Pat Kiley, and four companies they controlled in the alleged scheme. The SEC said the men pooled investor money in accounts they controlled and used about half the funds to pay earlier investors and to pay for Cook's gambling losses and his purchase of a historic mansion in Minneapolis.

(Reporting by Dan Margolies; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)