Reuters/Attain Capital – If you have been following the blog, or know anything about Attain, then you know that last week, the industry was rocked by the revelation that Russ Wassendorf, Sr., CEO of FCM PFGBest, attempted to commit suicide, leaving behind a note that indicated he had been falsifying bank statements showing how much customer funds PFG had on deposit. The most important parts of his confession are below (emphasis ours).
I have committed fraud. For this I feel constant and intense guilt. I am very remorseful that my greatest transgressions have been to my fellow man. Through a scheme of using false bank statements I have been able to embezzle millions of dollars from customer accounts at Peregrine Financial Group, Inc.The forgeries started nearly twenty years ago and have gone undetected until now. I was able to conceal my crime of forgery by being the sole individual with access to the US Bank accounts held by PFG. No one else in the company ever saw an actual US Bank statement. The Bank statements were always delivered directly to me when they arrived in the mail. I made counterfeit statements within a few hours of receiving the actual statements and gave the forgeries to the accounting department.
