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....The National Futures Association has repaid a $700,000 fine levied on Peregrine Financial Group Inc. in February, boosting the funds available to the trustee....
it is very unusual to have double whammies from pfg trustee and other news sources regarding WHAT, WHEN OR HOW MUCH, HOW SOON; the segregated funds owners would be receiving their rightful portions....
the attached linkage is probably the latest news, good news, for former acct holders at pfg.
it is a little bit encouraging, for me anyway. enjoy everyone and cheers.
if you are interested in what some people who are more intimately involved in the policing of our segregated funds, are advising those concerned regulatory authorities;
here are some comments, per quote, without personal experience:
There is some excellent tips here for NFA, especially about helping determine which back-office entries are fraudulent.
I actually put some concrete, actionable items up on Twitter today (@johnpneedham). If you’re in touch w/ anyone at NFA, have them take a look.
They have to go after the back-office system’s Transaction History File (referred to as “the TH1 file” by back-office technical experts). I gave them the file name and the query selection criteria. Even offered a couple of days of free consulting advice to get them moving in the right direction.
You guys are brillant what a great job at stating the obvious! Gee 800k is going to really help the customers who lost 200 million with the FCM you trusted Attain!
Please what a bunch of self serving crap.
Attain had most of their biz at PFG even though they were in fact a NON Clearing FCM which meant less capital requirements and the NFA not the CME was their regulator.
Further, were (sic) are at least 30 better capitalized firms to clear with and sometimes going with the cheapest clearing rates has it’s darkside.
Interesting how the next NFA Audit goes at Attain. LOL.
(Updated 2:15 p.m.)
(Crain's) — The trustee handling the Peregrine Financial Group Inc. can begin giving back $123 million to customers of the failed former futures commission merchant under a plan approved by a federal bankruptcy court judge today.
The customer money had been frozen in customer accounts since the firm collapsed in July after its former CEO and owner Russell Wasendorf, Sr. tried to commit suicide and left a note saying he had been siphoning money from customer accounts for years. Mr. Russell, who allegedly stole more than $200 million, entered a plea agreement yesterday in a separate federal criminal case in Iowa.
Cedar Falls, Iowa-based Peregrine, which did business as PFGBest and had half its now depleted 200-person workforce in Chicago, also had many of its 17,000 futures trading accounts with customers in the Chicago area.
“All these parities should be getting their money,” Bankruptcy Judge Carol Doyle said during a hearing in Peregrine’s bankruptcy case in Chicago, echoing Trustee Ira Bodenstein’s argument for a distribution of a portion of the account holdings by a Sept. 28.
While the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees the industry, initially was reluctant to start the distribution because of concerns about verifying customer claims, an attorney for the agency told the court today it was willing to go along. The agency was persuaded partly by the trustee’s agreement to hold a hearing Sept. 21 on how the accounts are being verified.
“We understand how important it is to the customers to get their money back,” said Robert Fishman, an attorney for the trustee, noting he has fielded myriad calls from former Peregrine customers upset about not getting the money back as lawyers rack up legal fees for work on the case.
Mr. Bodenstein was unwilling to say during an interview whether he thought Peregrine customers would be fully repaid.
Only holders of smaller accounts, with $50,000 or less, will receive money in this first distribution. The trustee for now is reserving more than $58 million of futures account money.
Holders of accounts related to metals and foreign currency trading weren’t eligible for the distribution because of complicated legal issues associated with them, Mr. Fishman said.
Mr. Bodenstein and Mr. Fishman are attorneys with the Chicago law firm of Shaw Gussis Fishman Glantz Wolfson & Towbin.
The judge also approved the trustee’s plan to seek bids from other firms interested in buying the Peregrine accounts and, following any sale, to make a bulk transfer of accounts to the winning bidder or bidders.
Representatives from the Chicago-based Commodity Customer Coalition agreed that the process was being handled fairly.
“We’re pretty comfortable with his validity testing process,” said James Koutoulas, who formed the coalition after some his futures clients lost money in the demise of MF Global Holdings Inc., a futures broker and commission merchant that also had money missing from futures customers’ accounts.
Mr. Koutoulas noted that it has taken some three months to start returning money to Peregrine customers whereas it only took about six weeks to get money back to clients of the much larger MF Global, which was based in New York.
The judge overruled several third-party objections to the trustee’s proposals.
A lawyer for futures broker G-Force Trading LLC argued against the bulk transfer of accounts and instead suggested customers be allowed to individually shift their old Peregrine accounts, but Judge Doyle agreed with the trustee that that option would deprive the estate of money that might be generated from the sale of the accounts and also would be more complicated and costly.
There were also objections from representatives of metals and foreign exchange accountholders concerned about whether there would be money for repayment to those customers. Mr. Fishman assured the judge the trustee was attempting to handle the distributions in a conservative manner.
i am confused, are we suppose to file the claim now using the "Standard Proof of Claim Form"? for individual futures accounts OR are we supposed to wait for them to tell us by when to file?
"The content of the standard proof of claim form is not tailored to address customer accounts. The fact that the claim form is on the website is not meant to imply that creditors’ claims will be addressed before customer claims."
Peregrine Financial Group Chief Executive Russell Wasendorf Sr., who has confessed to stealing millions of dollars from clients, will be released from a county jail after he pleads guilty on September 17 to mail fraud, lying to regulators and embezzling customer money, according to a judge's order.
Wasendorf, 64, will stay in the home of an Iowa pastor pending sentencing for the crimes, the order said.
Wasendorf attempted suicide on July 9 near the headquarters of his Cedar Falls, Iowa, brokerage and left a signed confession of a 20-year-long fraud.
The search continues for the money he stole. Former clients are still unable to access funds frozen since the firm's bankruptcy on July 10.
where would the chief choose to stay before sentencing?
Remember Peregrine Financial, the firm that just like MF Global, ended up vaporizing $200 million in client money after it was revealed that its suicide-challenged CEO Russell Wasendorf was stealing operating cash for two decades under the nose of the CFTC? Yes? Good.
Important Message for Customers of Peregrine Financial Group and Peregrine Asset Management - Updated on September 14, 2012
Peregrine Financial Group, Inc. (PFG) filed for liquidation in a U.S. bankruptcy court in Chicago on July 10, 2012. Ira Bodenstein was appointed by the U.S. Trustee to act as trustee for PFG's estate. This includes marshaling and recovering the assets of PFG's estate, including customer property, and distributing those assets pursuant to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and CFTC Part 190 rules. The Trustee has been authorized to operate PFG on a limited basis in order to wind down the business.
The Trustee filed a motion on September 6, 2012 seeking approval from the court to make an interim distribution to PFG's futures customers. The motion can be viewed by visiting https://www.pfgchapter7.com, a website which was established by the Trustee in order to provided information about the case and also to receive comments and questions from customers. A Trustee communication dated September 7, 2012, which is available in the Trustee Communication section of the website, clarifies that customers should not file any kind of claim form to participate in the proposed interim distribution. It further explains that all customers will need to file a claim form eventually and that when the appropriate forms are available, they will be posted on the Trustee's website providing customers reasonable time to complete the filing.
If you are a farmer, rancher, or agricultural cooperative, CME Group is accepting applications to register for benefits under the CME Group Family Farmer & Rancher Protection Fund. Information regarding the application deadline and the qualification requirements to receive benefits can be found at Family Farmer and Rancher Protection Fund. Questions relating to the program should be emailed to [email protected].
Customers are encouraged to visit the Trustee's website frequently, including the "Trustee Communications" section, to obtain current information about the claims process and the case in general.
We will continue to provide additional information as it becomes available on our website and via email.