FINANCIAL MESS: FBI Arrests Wasendorf

Posted on: 1:30 pm, July 13, 2012, by Kelly Maricle, updated on: 03:02pm, July 13, 2012

The head of an Iowa brokerage firm has been charged with making false statements to regulators.

Sixty-four-year-old Russell Wasendorf Sr., who runs Peregrine Financial Group, attempted suicide Monday, and in a note described financial fraud he had perpetrated.

Federal regulators froze all customer accounts at the firm Monday. A report showed Peregrine had $220 million less than it claimed in customer accounts.

Friday, the FBI arrested Wasendorf. A complaint against him alleges he made false statements to the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission and inflated the value of customer funds from 2010 to July of 2012.

Wasendorf is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court Friday afternoon in Cedar Rapids.

Peregrine Financial Group filed for Chapter Seven bankruptcy protection this week.