Nov. 13--Michael Catain called it "cabbage."

When he moved money in and out of his businesses' bank account for Wayzata businessman Tom Petters, Catain says he got to keep a commission. He didn't want the lucrative deal to end -- it brought him more than $10 million from 2002 to 2008.

So every few weeks or months, he says, he would gift Petters some cash, or "cabbage."

In a November 2004 e-mail, Catain told Petters that "it rained last night and 18 head of cabbage grew."

Translated, Catain said, that meant he had $18,000 in cash to deliver to Petters.

Catain, 53, has pleaded guilty to money laundering related to a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme run out of Petters Co. Inc., of Minnetonka, and faces up to 20 years in prison.

He testified against Tom Petters in federal court Thursday in St. Paul. When Catain is sentenced, he's hoping his cooperation will lead to a shorter stay in prison.

Petters, 52, founder of Petters Co. Inc. and Petters Group Worldwide, is on trial on 20 counts of fraud, accused of being at the center of the Ponzi scheme. He faces up to 30 years in prison. He maintains his innocence.

Catain met Petters in the mid-1990s when Catain was running a retail liquidation business. Petters then approached him in 2000 about using Catain's $15 million line of credit with GE Capital Corp. to help finance the purchase of goods from Circuit City.

But earlier testimony has alleged Petters actually used the money to pay off what he owed GE

Capital. GE Capital eventually sued Catain when Petters didn't pay him back as promised. Ultimately, the debt was settled with GE Capital, but Catain lost his line of credit and access to capital.

"Tom had put me out of my business. I had no way to make an income," Catain said.

In 2002, Catain said Petters approached him about pretending to run a company that bought merchandise and occasionally telling investors that's what he was doing. In actuality, all Catain says he ended up doing was moving money around.

From 2002 to 2008, $12 billion passed through an account for Enchanted Family Buying Co., a business Catain established in Excelsior to look like a vendor that supplied Petters with TVs and other goods for resale. The setup was an effort to convince investors that real deals for huge amounts of consumer electronics actually were taking place.

"Was there any real business with (Petters Co. Inc.)?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Rank asked Catain.

"No."

"It was a sham?"

"Yes, it was," Catain said.