Con Err

"The Big Eagle" preys again on unsuspecting investors.

A A A Comments By Paul Rubin Thursday, Sep 14 2000

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"We never knew he was in prison, I swear, never knew he was dirty," Ray Whitby says. "The guy has the cojones to look you in the eye and get you all caught up in his world. He surrounds himself with a cloud of substance, but things are all collapsing all around him now."

On the surface, it didn't seem as if things were collapsing at the well-appointed Camero offices on Monday afternoon.

photos courtesy of the Arizona Department of Corre

Steve Peterson, in photos taken during his incarceration at the Arizona State Prison.

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A six-foot-tall bronze sculpture of a soaring eagle faced visitors in the waiting room, where copies of financial magazines and New Timessat on a coffee table.

A friendly receptionist said Peterson was out of the office, supposedly in meetings for the duration of the day. Asked about the eagle -- whose countenance is at once arrogant and majestic, she said proudly, "That's just an eagle. But it's not our Big Eagle. That's Steve. That's what he likes us to call him."