Peregrine CEO pleads not guilty to lying to regulators

by The Compliance Exchange on August 17, 2012

Russell Wasendorf Sr., chief executive of failed futures brokerage Peregrine Financial Group, pleaded not guilty to lying to federal regulators on Friday.

The widely expected move likely sets the stage for an eventual plea agreement, legal observers said, after Wasendorf confessed last month to bilking his customers out of millions of dollars.

Wasendorf, 64, was indicted on Monday on 31 counts of overstating the amount of customer funds at his brokerage by tens of millions of dollars in faked monthly and yearly reports to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).