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Corporate Fraud and Schemes

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Corporate Fraud and Schemes
ACC 571 – Forensic Accounting
October 20, 2014

Russell Wasendorf was the owner and chief executive officer of Peregrine Financial Group based in Cedar Falls Iowa. He stared the business in 1967 in Iowa and later decided to move the company to Chicago. Not long ago, he decided to move the company back to Iowa convincing many of his colleagues to move with him. Peregrine Financial Group had many customers and clients who trusted that the money invested and managed by Peregrine would be safe and potentially provide strong dividends in the future. In July 2012, the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and Russell Wasendoff was arrested for corporate fraud. According to the IRS (irs.gov), Wasendorf stole more than $215,000,000 from more than 13,000 victims over the course of nearly 20 years. The fraud that was committed was misappropriation of funds and falsifying bank statements.
National Futures Association, the regulators for Peregrine, came to the harsh realization when they decided to change the audit procedure to online. According to New York Times (www.nytimes.com) “The N.F.A. was in the middle of changing part of its audit process to an online platform, where bank statement information would feed directly to the regulator. This month, Peregrine was facing its first audit under the new system, called confirmation.com, and Mr. Wasendorf was opposed to the system”. Previously, Wasendorf was the only person to review the statements. In order to cover up his fraud, a rented P.O. Box was set up for delivery of bank statements, he would use different computer programs that allowed him to change balance information. The altered statements would be submitted to regulators and dupe investors.
In times of economic hardship, losing money in poorly managed investments can be a strain. Investors become

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