UPDATE: Federal Commission Files Complaint Against PFG, Says Wasendorf in Coma

UPDATED 3:42 p.m.

Cedar Falls, IA - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a complaint against Peregrine Financial Group, PFGBest, in Illinois District Court today, a day after company founder and CEO Russell Wasendorf Sr. reportedly attempted suicide outside the company's headquarters.

PFGBest, based in Cedar Falls, IA, is an online retail brokerage firm specializing in futures and foreign exchange trading. It has offices across the United States and in Canada and Shanghai.

The Trading Commission action came after industry regulatory group the National Futures Association put an emergency freeze on financial activity by the company on Monday after the reported suicide attempt. An investigation by the National Futures Association allegedly found $220 million missing from the brokerage company's bank account.

The Cedar Falls-Waterloo Courier reported Wasendorf was taken to Sartori Memorial Hospital in Cedar Falls Monday before being airlifted to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He was reported in critical condition Monday afternoon.

According to the Trading Commission complaint, he is in a coma.

A call to PFG's Cedar Falls office Tuesday morning led to a recording that said the office was closed. This reporter, trying to take a picture of the building Tuesday afternoon, was asked to leave the grounds by two men in plain clothes. One appeared to have a gun holster on his hip.

The NFA said on its website that it has reason to believe PFG does not have sufficient assets to meet its obligations to its customers.

The regulatory group reported it had received information the company may have falsified bank records. It said PFG reported $225 million deposited at U.S. Bank, but an investigation Monday showed only $5 million in PFG's bank account.

It also said that in February 2010 and March 2011, PFG reported balances of over $200 million, but that it actually had less than $10 million both times.

Wasendorf, 64, moved the company's headquarters to Cedar Falls from Chicago in 2009. He also founded the downtown Cedar Falls restaurant MyVerona, .