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July 13th, 2012, 03:08 PM
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator Developer Swing Trader
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Custom solution
Broker: IBKR
Trading: Stocks & Futures
Frequency: Every few days
Duration: Weeks
Posts: 50,621 since Jun 2009
Thanks Given: 33,356
Thanks Received: 101,989
Additional details from his confession:
Quoting
“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 accounts 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. .... I had no access to additional capital and I was forced into a difficult decision: Should I go out of business or cheat? I guess my ego was too big to admit failure. So I cheated, I falsified the very core of the financial documents of PFG, the Bank Statements. At first I had to make forgeries to both Firstar Bank Statements and the Harris Bank Statements. When I choose (sic) to close the Harris Account I only had to falsify the Firstar Statements (elsewhere in the signed statement Wasendorf noted that Firstar “eventually became US Bank”). I also made forgeries of official letters and correspondence from the bank, as well as transaction confirmation statements.
....
Using a combination of Photo Shop, Excel, scanners, and both laser and ink jet printers I was able to make very convincing forgeries of nearing every document that came from the Bank. I could create forgeries very quickly no one would suspect that my forgeries were not the real thing that had just arrived in the mail.
With a careful concealment and blunt authority I was able to hide my fraud from others at PFG. PFG grew out of a one man shop, a business I started in the basement of my home. As I added people to the company everyone knew I was the guy in charge. If anyone questioned my authority I would simply point out that I was the sole shareholder. I established rules and procedures as each new situation arose. I ordered that US Bank statement were to be delivered directly to me unopened, to make sure no one was able to examine an actual US Bank Statement. I was also the only person with online access to PFG’s account using US Bank’s online portal. On the US Bank side, I told representatives at the Bank that I was the only person they should interface with.
...
When it became a common practice for Credited Auditors and the Field Auditors of the Regulators to mail Balance Confirmation Forms to Banks and other entities holding customer funds I opened a post office box. The box was originally in the name of Firstar Bank but was eventually changed to US Bank. I put the address “PO Box 706, Cedar Falls, IA 50613-0030” on the counterfeit Bank Statements. When the auditors mailed Confirmation Forms to the Bank’s false address, I would intercept the Form, type in the amount I needed to show, forge a Bank Officer’s signature and mail it back to the Regulator or Certified Auditor.
When online Banking became prevalent I learned how to falsify online Bank Statements and the Regulators accepted them without question.”
Mike
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Best Threads (Most Thanked) in the last 7 days on NexusFi
July 13th, 2012, 03:12 PM
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator Developer Swing Trader
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Custom solution
Broker: IBKR
Trading: Stocks & Futures
Frequency: Every few days
Duration: Weeks
Posts: 50,621 since Jun 2009
Thanks Given: 33,356
Thanks Received: 101,989
A lot of details here, read
Mike
July 13th, 2012, 03:21 PM
Austin, TX
Experience: Master
Platform: ninjatrader, r-trader
Trading: NQ, CL
Posts: 866 since Jun 2011
Thanks Given: 610
Thanks Received: 1,091
Big Mike
Additional details from his confession:
Mike
Wow been doing it for 20 years and getting away with it. Regulators must be complete idiots.
"The day I became a winning trader was the day it became boring. Daily losses no longer bother me and daily wins no longer excited me. Took years of pain and busting a few accounts before finally got my mind right. I survived the darkness within and now just chillax and let my black box do the work."
July 13th, 2012, 03:30 PM
Toronto, Ontario
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NinjaTrader, Multicharts
Broker: IB, IQfeed
Trading: ES, CL
Posts: 203 since Oct 2009
Thanks Given: 135
Thanks Received: 165
any mention of his fake coma?
Big Mike
Additional details from his confession:
Mike
July 13th, 2012, 04:25 PM
Surrey UK
Posts: 6 since May 2012
Thanks Given: 0
Thanks Received: 3
Wow. 20 years...and Photoshop?!
No one is safe now, absolutely no one. Who knows what else is going on out there right under our noses. Its like the wild west out there. Anything goes.
July 13th, 2012, 04:42 PM
Europe,Nomad
Posts: 84 since Nov 2010
Thanks Given: 25
Thanks Received: 30
Mike
Thanks for this document, I just needed signature of special agent from FBI
July 13th, 2012, 04:43 PM
Cleveland, OH
Experience: Advanced
Platform: QST
Broker: QST, DeCarley Trading, Gain
Trading: Options on Futures
Posts: 3,081 since Jul 2011
Thanks Given: 980
Thanks Received: 5,785
The regulators never did an audit where they contacted the bank directly to confirm his account balances in 20 years??? OMG
What exactly has NFA been doing with the trade fees that everybody has been paying? I want my money back.
Self-regulation? Yeah that is a good idea. Not.
July 13th, 2012, 04:54 PM
Quebec Canada
Market Wizard
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: AMP/CQG
Trading: ES, NQ, YM
Frequency: Daily
Duration: Minutes
Posts: 4,530 since Oct 2009
Thanks Given: 4,183
Thanks Received: 6,030
liquidcci
Wow been doing it for 20 years and getting away with it. Regulators must be complete idiots.
The great regulator "Karma" will take care of him ;-)
July 13th, 2012, 04:55 PM
Montreal
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: MultiCharts
Broker: DeepDiscountTrading.com
Trading: CL
Posts: 364 since Jul 2011
trendisyourfriend
The great regulator "Karma" will take care of him ;-)
I can't fund my new account with karma.
July 13th, 2012, 05:07 PM
Montreal
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: MultiCharts
Broker: DeepDiscountTrading.com
Trading: CL
Posts: 364 since Jul 2011
Big Mike
Sounds like he is trying to take all the responisibility from others that might have been involved. How could other people in PFG upper management, not have known?
When do I get my money back?
Last Updated on April 6, 2016