Massive Embezzlement Admitted At Iowa-Based Financial Firm

Russell Wasendorf

Russell Wasendorf, Sr., 64, of Cedar Falls, Iowa, has been charged with making and using false statements in connection with a $215 million embezzlement scheme he has reportedly admitted to having engaged in over a period of nearly 20 years at the financial firm he ran as CEO, Peregrine Financial Group, Inc.  According to reports, Wasendorf admitted in a statement to FBI investigators that he personally doctored bank statements to enable him to embezzle the funds from client accounts.  In his statement, Wasendorf explained, “Using a combination of Photoshop, Excel, scanners, and both laser and ink jet printers I was able to make very convincing forgeries of nearly every document that came from the bank.”  Wasendorf was found earlier this week after an apparent suicide attempt in his car.  A suicide note was left for his wife and son, also executives of Peregrine.

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Read the criminal complaint here.

Update (1/13/13): Wasendorf was sentenced to 50 years in prison and ordered to pay $215.5 million in restitution. 

Former California Municipal Councilman Indicted For Allegedly Embezzling As Much As $880K

John Keith Drayman, 54, of Glendale, California, has been indicted on charges he embezzled between $304,000 and $880,000 from the weekly Harvest Market, operated by the non-profit Montrose Shopping Park Association in Montrose, California, which he had founded.  According to prosecutors, over a period of 7 years, from 2004 through 2011, Drayman siphoned funds from the Association.  Drayman has been charged with one count of embezzlement, 10 counts of filing false tax returns, five counts of money laundering, three counts of forgery, one count filing a false financial statement and eight counts of perjury by declaration. 

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