Peregrine Financial Group CEO Gets 50 years in Prison

Chief Judge Linda Reade of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Iowa sentenced the founder of Peregrine Financial Group, Russell Wasendorf Sr., to 50 years in prison for looting hundreds of millions of dollars from the brokerage. According to CBS, He was also ordered to pay $215.5 million in restitution for his nearly 20-year scam.

“I’m very sorry for the financial and emotional damage I’ve caused to investors and employees of Peregrine Financial Group,” the 64-year-old Wasendorf said at the sentencing hearing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“I feel I fully deserve whatever sentence I am given,” he said. “My guilt is such I will accept that sentence.”

Wasendorf tried to kill himself just before the fraud was uncovered last year. Wasendorf pleaded guilty in September.

Wasendorf used the money he has stolen to build up a business empire that included a publishing company, a corporate jet, the nicest restaurant in Cedar Falls, and a family charity known for making donations to universities and hospitals.