Peregrine Financial's Wasendorf Pleads Not Guilty in Federal Court

Russell Wasendorf Sr., the CEO and founder of Peregrine Financial Group, also known as PFG or PFGBEST, pleaded not guilty to 31 charges in federal court today.

Wasendorf, 64, was arrested in July after attempting suicide. In his suicide note he allegedly admitted to stealing over $200 million of his customers' money over 20 years. His international brokerage firm, based out of Cedar Falls, is in bankruptcy.

He is charged with 31 counts of making and using false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the government of the United States.

According to the indictment, on 31 occasions between February 2010 and June 2012, Wasendorf allegedly caused false year-end financial statements to be submitted to the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission and overstated the value of the company’s customer segregated funds by at least tens of millions of dollars, knowing the actual value was far less.

If convicted on all counts, he could face up to 155 years in prison. He could also face a $7.75 million fine, $3,100 in special assessments and 93 years of supervised release following prison.

An Oct. 15 court date was set for Wasendorf's trial.

Wasendorf, who established Peregrine Financial's multi-million dollar headquarters in Cedar Falls in 2009, was a noted philanthropist as well as a businessman. on the Cedar Valley here.