Russell Wasendorf Sr., the founder of the bankrupt commodities firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc., was sentenced to 50 years in prison for what prosecutors said was a theft of more than $215 million from customers, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Wasendorf used a printer, software and a post office box to create false bank statements and other documents to hide the evidence of his 20-year embezzlement starting in the early 1990s, prosecutors said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan told U.S. District Judge Linda Reade in court filings that Wasendorf deserved the maximum 50-year penalty because of the amount customers lost and the sophisticated nature of the crime. Wasendorf started stealing customer funds within two years of Peregrine’s original financing, using a copying machine to conceal his theft of $250,000 to keep his company afloat, the government said.
