CHICAGO (Reuters) – Russell Wasendorf Sr., the former chief executive of Peregrine Financial Group, has been transferred to a high-security federal prison in Indiana to serve his 50-year sentence for bilking $215 million from customers of the failed futures brokerage. Wasendorf, who turned 65 on Monday, arrived on Wednesday at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, which was once the home of convicted Illinois Governor George Ryan, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. …
Russell Wasendorf Sr.
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A U.S. judge on Thursday sentenced the founder of Peregrine Financial Group to 50 years in prison for looting hundreds of millions of dollars from the brokerage, saying his customers would probably never recover the money they lost.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox Business Headlines
Prosecutors argued Thursday that Peregrine Financial Group’s former chief executive Russell Wasendorf Sr. should stay behind bars for 50 years for looting more than $215 million from former clients of the failed futures brokerage.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox Business Headlines
The founder of a brokerage who hid his theft of customer funds for 20 years is about to face the moment he always wanted to avoid: being sentenced to prison.
A federal judge in Iowa on Thursday will sentence Peregrine Financial Group chairman Russ Wasendorf Sr. to prison. Federal prosecutors are asking for the maximum 50-year sentence. Even supporters of the 64-year-old say he’s accepted the likelihood that he’ll die behind bars.
Wasendorf attempted suicide last summer outside Peregrine’s headquarters in Cedar Falls, shortly before regulators would learn that $200 million in customer funds was missing.
Wasendorf later pleaded guilty to fraud and embezzlement charges. He admitted that he created fake documents to cover up the theft, which he used to expand the business and fund a lavish lifestyle.
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