BY ART BUKOWSKI
abukowski@record-eagle.com
July 02, 2009 07:05 am TRAVERSE CITY -- A local resident swindled by a woman behind a large "Ponzi" scheme waited too long to take legal action against the con woman's former employer, an appeals court ruled. Meanwhile, a key player in the scam is out of prison after an appeals court ruled he complied with terms of a plea agreement that promised him a shortened sentence. Shirley Akers in 2007 filed a lawsuit against Chicago-based Bankers Life and Casualty Company, a firm that until 2002 employed convicted embezzler Margaret Zimmerman. Zimmerman, 51, and accomplice Gary Singer, 58, targeted seniors in a scam that bilked several area residents out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Michigan Court of Appeals recently upheld a local ruling that statutes of limitations barred Akers' negligence, fraud and other claims. Zimmerman swindled thousands of dollars from Akers not long after Bankers Life fired her for unethical practices, and Akers alleged the company fraudulently concealed the reasons behind Zimmerman's termination. Akers contends she would have known to avoid Zimmerman had she known Zimmerman was fired for questionable practices. Akers might now take her case to the state Supreme Court. Her claims shouldn't be void under statutes of limitation because it took years for her to discover Bankers Life allegedly knew details of Zimmerman's activities, her attorney said. "If (Akers) had known earlier, she could have taken action earlier," said her attorney, Gary Gardner. Akers would not comment for this story. Zimmerman is behind bars while serving a minimum prison sentence of 57 months. Singer, her partner in the scheme, received the same sentence. They were sentenced in early 2007. But Singer is out of prison after an appeals court ruled he should be bound by an initial plea offering that promised him a shorter term. Singer and Zimmerman were to be sentenced to a maximum year in jail had they raised $100,000 of the nearly $900,000 in restitution owed. A judge sentenced both to prison terms when they failed to raise the required amount. The appeals court ruled Singer should have been given credit for restitution paid by others, and it brought him in compliance with the initial agreement. The appeals court took into account restitution paid by an alleged co-conspirator who wasn't criminally charged. Circuit Judge Philip E. Rodgers recently resentenced Singer to a year in jail, though he won't serve any more time behind bars because of credit given for his prison time. It's not yet clear if Zimmerman will pursue a similar appeal.
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