Peregrine Financial Group founder and chief executive Russell Wasendorf Sr was indicted on charges of lying to regulators, a little over a month after he botched a suicide attempt and confessed to bilking customers of his brokerage for years.
Wasendorf, 64, "overstated the value of PFG's customer segregated funds by at least tens of millions of dollars" to the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission, according to the indictment, filed in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The indictment carries a possible maximum sentence of 155 years in prison, a $7.75 million fine, and 93 years of supervised release following any imprisonment, the U.S. Attorney's office said.
The public defender representing Wasendorf Sr could not immediately be reached for comment.
Peregrine filed for bankruptcy protection on July 10, one day after Wasendorf Sr attempted suicide and left a note describing how he had stolen from customers for nearly 20 years.
The collapse of what was once a mid-sized futures brokerage has dealt a blow to confidence in the futures industry, coming less than a year after MF Global Holdings Ltd's bankruptcy, which left customers with a $1.6 billion shortfall and is still being investigated.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/14/us-peregrine-ceo-indictment-idUSBRE87C13I20120814
No comments:
Post a Comment