U.S. prosecutors said that Peregrine Financial Group's former chief executive stole more than $215 million from customers of his now-defunct futures brokerage and should be sentenced to the maximum 50 years in jail, Reuters reported yesterday. Russell Wasendorf Sr., who founded the firm, has pleaded guilty to embezzlement but wants a lighter sentence, saying that the loss was less than $200 million and that he used "very basic, simple means" to carry out his fraud, according to documents filed by U.S. prosecutors. Wasendorf, whose attempted suicide sent his firm into bankruptcy last July, is in jail in Iowa and will be sentenced on Jan. 31. U.S. prosecutors say the large loss, the sophisticated nature of the crime, and the sheer number of victims - more than 10,000 - justify his spending the rest of his life behind bars. Prosecutors put the exact loss at $215,530,547, based on Peregrine's bank records, and will call Brenda Cuypers, the firm's chief financial officer, as a witness at the sentencing hearing next week. They had previously pegged the embezzlement only at "more than $100 million," to which Wasendorf pleaded guilty.
