The natural and sad end to every fraud: liquidation [5](and even sadder for the10-25K creditors of the company who will get nothing as a result of this liquidation proceedings).
Peregrine Financial Group Inc, the regulated unit of the brokerage PFGBest, has filed to liquidate under Chapter 7 of the U.S. bankruptcy code, a court filing shows.
Tuesday's filing with the U.S. bankruptcy court shows that Peregrine has between $500 million and $1 billion of assets, between $100 million and $500 million of liabilities, and between 10,000 and 25,000 creditors.
A board resolution authorizing the bankruptcy was signed by President Russell Wasendorf Jr, who also signed on behalf of Chairman Russell Wasendorf Sr.
The resolution said Russell Wasendorf Jr was empowered to act for Russell Wasendorf Sr in the event the latter became incapacitated, under a power of attorney dated July 3.
Russell Wasendorf Sr attempted suicide on July 9.
And via Bloomberg, this is how he tried to kill himself:
Thompson said in a phone interview today that Wasendorf was found in his car with a note, the contents of which the sheriff declined to divulge. A hose ran from the vehicle’s exhaust pipe into the passenger compartment, he said.
An officer with the sheriff’s office arrived just after 8 a.m. yesterday at Peregrine offices, where paramedics were attending to Wasendorf, according to an incident report e-mailed to Bloomberg News.
Wasendorf was breathing as he was taken from his car and was incoherent, according to the report. He was later airlifted to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, it said.
“A note was found in the vehicle that indicated possible discrepancies with accounts at Peregrine Financial Group,” according to the report.
There is now a receiver:
Pallmeyer’s order today prohibited the destruction of the firm’s books and records and granted the CFTC’s request for access to inspect them. She also appointed a receiver, Michael M. Eidelman of Chicago’s Vedder Price PC, placing him in charge of the business.
“Until further order of the court,” she said, “the receiver’s compensation is limited to $25,000 to be satisfied first out of available assets of defendant Russell R. Wasendorf Sr. and then from available assets of defendant Peregrine Financial Group Inc.”
Many more to come.