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PFG's Chairman Was Forging Bank Documents For Years Even As The CFTC Gave An "All Clear"

Tyler Durden's picture


If there is an event that should cost Gary Gensler his job as head regulator at the CFTC, it is this. According to a just released Reuters report, the head of MFG(lobal) part 2, PFG, whose story we broke yesterday, Russell Wasendorf Sr. "intercepted and forged bank documents for more than two years to cover up hundreds of millions of dollars in missing money, a person close to the situation." Once Wasendorf realized he was caught, and knew the implications of his actions would be exposed for the whole world to see, he tried to commit suicide, and failed. "Wasendorf, 64, is reported to be in a coma after a suicide attempt Monday morning, according to a complaint filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday that accuses Wasendorf and Peregrine of fraud." And while crime happens all the time, what is truly stunning is that as we reported previously, the CFTC gave the firm a clean bill of health in its January inspection of Peregrine Financial Group. That's 6 months ago. The CFTC, as a reminder, was it regulator. The entity whose sole charge is to make sure that firms at least have real, not rehypothecated, cash in their segregated client bank accounts. PFG never did for the past two years. And somehow the CFTC missed this. MF Global was a warning shot, and the CFTC missed it entirely. And not only that but 2 months later ir pronounced PFG clean. For this Gensler has to be fired immediately, and with prejudice.

More from Reuters:

The source offered new details on how Wasendorf allegedly carried out the deceit, which involved the forging of confidential documents that the NFA uses to verify a broker's cash balance with its depository institution.


Wasendorf intercepted these documents after they were mailed by the NFA, the broker's first-line regulator, to U.S. Bank, where PFGBest had said it had well over $200 million on deposit, the person said. The NFA has said the account actually held just $5 million this week.


Wasendorf had set up a post office box in Cedar Falls, Iowa, according to a second person involved in the matter. It was to that post office box that NFA sent the documents, which were addressed to the bank.


The post office box was neither in Wasendorf's name nor registered to the bank, the second person said.


Wasendorf then forged signatures and fabricated bank balances on the documents and simply mailed them back to the Chicago-based NFA, the person said.


Calls to spokespeople for PFGBest and NFA were not returned. A woman who answered the phone at the home of Wasendorf declined to comment.

If anyone deserves some credit here, it is the NFA:

The scheme apparently began to unravel after the NFA began to press Wasendorf, who was an early advocate of electronic trading, to allow the regulator to confirm balances electronically and directly with the bank, rather than in a hard copy via mail, the person said.


NFA "started getting suspicious. He was resisting this new way of confirming the balance," the source said.


Wasendorf only recently signed the authorization, a decision that would quickly have led regulators to uncover the discrepancy, the person said. PFGBest's total segregated funds requirement was around $400 million, meaning more than half is missing.

Finally the spin: PFG is not MFG, it is Madoff.

While news that a second broker in less than a year appears to have misappropriated customer funds drew immediate comparisons to the MF Global failure in October, the source said the prolonged nature of the apparent deceit drew a more fitting parallel to the Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff, though the size of the funds missing from PFGBest is tiny by comparison.

Well thank god for that: the farmers whose money is now forever gone can sleep much better knowing their cash was not Corzined, it was merely Made-off.

Of course, the real problem is that since there was only $5 million in the "client fund", there never likely was more than $5 million in real cash terms to begin with.

And this is what the CFTC signed off on.

Cur Congressional banana hearings, witch trials, and more fingerpointing which will result in more of the same: a former Goldmanite in charge of the CFTC, and virtually no hope that anything in these broken capital markets will ever be fixed until the big reset finally sweeps all this toxic garbage away.


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Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:26 | 2604339 Blankenstein
Blankenstein's picture

These narcissists/psychopaths know what they are doing is wrong, they just don't care.  

Wed, 07/11/2012 - 00:01 | 2604824 TerraHertz
TerraHertz's picture

Rich sociopath or rich spoilt... does this terminology quibble matter in any practical way? I don't think so.

If it does, maybe we could allocate them to different colored lamposts, when that time arrives.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:35 | 2603829 mobtown
mobtown's picture

The CFTC website lists all of their phone numbers, let's ask them wha hapon?

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:07 | 2603917 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Yeah and you'll end up on a no-fly list with Osama BinLaden. Or worse, the TSA will catch you in a crosswalk some day and make you submit to a cavity search.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:17 | 2603987 Angus McHugepenis
Angus McHugepenis's picture

Obama (sorry... OSAMA) was on the no fly list? That worked out well. Probably why he never flew commercial after that. Can you imagine his embarassment trying to go through customs?

Can the TSA set up check points on the Afghan border? I'd love to see their faces as they get an elderly Afghany to dismount his mule and drop his pants and he's packing a Stinger in his shorts!

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:36 | 2603832 bdc63
bdc63's picture

In a comma my ass ... I'm sure he is just vacationing in the Hamptons with Corzine and da boyz ...

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:57 | 2603921 Angus McHugepenis
Angus McHugepenis's picture

He tried to commit suicide by standing under a falling $400 million but realized his error when only $5 million bounced off his head. However, it was enough to cause a coma as he passed out, and delay any future testimony before fellow thieves.

According to his math he is now one of the 98%.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:05 | 2603954 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Typo of the Day!

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:43 | 2604202 Yes_Questions
Yes_Questions's picture



In A comma da vida



Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:37 | 2603846 LostAtSea
LostAtSea's picture


"When a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law, men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims, then money becomes its creators' avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they've passed a law to disarm them. But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter."

No one holding your money is to be trusted.  My friend just lost his business because his trading capital was held at PFGBest.  

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:45 | 2603887 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Hold on to your rage. Give it space. Let it grow.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:50 | 2604217 redguard
redguard's picture

Whos' quote? Thank you.

Wed, 07/11/2012 - 00:08 | 2604844 TerraHertz
TerraHertz's picture

Francisco's Money Speech, Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand.

A little google told me so.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:38 | 2603850 LeBalance
LeBalance's picture

Once again the "source" paints the intrepid story of the lone gunman perched atop his or her lone lockout in complete isolation.  Act alone he did.  No one else knew of his forgery.  Wasn't part of a collective effort.  Those types of Theories are all wet.

I will put on my "I fucking believe this drivel scenario" smile and like it.

yes yes I will.

like fucking hell i will.

cockroaches DO NOT act in isolation.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:40 | 2603857 Benjamin Glutton
Benjamin Glutton's picture

While I appreciate the sentiment I fail to see how firing Gensler will alter standard operating procedure for the club.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:53 | 2604097 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Ah. Someone who actually gets it.

Tell us, what do you think the club makes of the death of money? Surely that has some of them backed up a bit, eh wot? They can print all the fiat paper they want but there is only so much asset to go around in a finite world. All that excess money not tied to assets is about to fall from the host and die, perhaps the club is a tad nervous there.

Or not. As a group they are not strictly speaking the sharpest tools in the shed, seems to me. Favored and influential certainly. But lacking a certain -- well swiftness I think is the term I'm looking for here.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:42 | 2603866 Blagio
Blagio's picture

Perhaps Mr. Gensler was having a seizure and unaware of what was happening when the CFTC signed off.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:44 | 2603869 Whiner
Whiner's picture

Writers, please have some respect for this tortured man's family. Think of them before you judge so harshly. Wife will have to settle with bankruptcy trustee retaining only 28M$ mansion and $100M in liquid investments. His son may commit Madoff like suicide. Others may withdraw from Chote or Exeter. What of them? The shame, the shame! Is it not enough to bear? Whazzat? Hang them too? Oh my. Where is ZH civility. Tyler! Help!

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:43 | 2603870 sitenine
sitenine's picture

Fraud is not rampant in the system. The system IS fraud. Why do people continue to participate? I don't understand why anyone still expects that what is 'owed' them will ever be paid back. Even if it was paid back, why do people still assume they will be better off in real terms? We have seen again and again that the 'money' just isn't there or that currency destruction is greater than any possible return anyway. What is it about human psychology that prevents us from understanding that we are all being lied to? Why are promises still believed? Promises will not, and can not, feed our families. Why then have we left our financial security in the hands of opaque and corrupt institutions? Why have we not put an end to this? Simple: Unfortunately, there is still a very large portion of the population 'invested' in pensions, social security payments, et al. There will be no change until these individuals stop receiving payments. As long as they are 'getting paid', they don't care one bit to change anything. Yeah, it sucks for us all, but greed is greater than the greater good. I only mention this because the blame is not just for the bankers. Lack of education, blind faith, and missing personal responsibility are just as copable.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:45 | 2603885 Whiner
Whiner's picture

Normalcy bias=4M dead Jews

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:50 | 2604214 Omen IV
Omen IV's picture

at this late date - with every line of business and type of transaction subject to Fraud at every stage with a government sanction - if you "participate" you deserve what you get!

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:08 | 2604266 Its_the_economy...
Its_the_economy_stupid's picture


Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:44 | 2603877 ableman28
ableman28's picture

I have substantial investment portfolios at several large banks and have pretty thorough understanding of how brokerage units in banks handle financial instruments in client portfolios.  If you think what is happening to brokerage houses that trade commodities and futures via the Chicago bourse is unique and you have an investment portfolio at a large bank then you should read this and consider wisely how safe you are.

Ask your investment advisor exactly how the various instruments in your portfolio are titled.  You will probably get some misdirecting answer that says they are held in beneficial trust by the bank and administered in your interest.  They may even give you a copy of the brokerage agreement you signed when you opened your account.

BUT THAT IS ENTIRELY BESIDE THE POINT.  The point is in whose name are these instruments titled and what authority does that give the bank that administers them for you.  In nearly all cases the reality is they are titled in the bank/brokerage name.  And, the simple answer is that it gives the bank, should they feel they are in a position to have to do it, the ability to "borrow" and "hypothecate" your assets for their own purposes.  

Now if you directly challenge your bank with this concern they are likely to give your another misdirecting answer along the lines that the bank does not trade in assets distributed through client portfolio's for its own purposes. Well this describes the bank's past behavior and is no guarantee of future behavior.  Certainly the bank hopes that it is never in a position that it has to use client assets to keep the bank going.  But the reality is that in any brokerage account the manager has more rights to make use of your assets than you probably realize.

Further, lets say that some day your bank has a problem and goes on holiday for awhile.  You can't get access to your brokerage account and you can't get access to you checking account.  But you have a copy of your brokerage statement.  Your convinced that with your statement you can go directly to the issuer of the varous instruments in your portfolio and demonstrate your ownership of the referenced investment they issues.  Well, good luck with that.  There is about zero chance that your ownership of the any piece in your portfolio, eg. municipals, has been registered with the issuer.  The owner will be the bank or brokerage unit that "sold" you this investment.

Now, the really great irony in all of this is that if the issuer of say a nice municipal bond has a problem and goes bust guess who loses money?  Not the bank that actually holds title to the bond and administers it on your behalf.  You do, even though you don't have title and would have a hell of a time in moving the municipal out of your portfolio to a private pay account.

Anyone who has read this far would be well advised to consider the folllowing.  If you have some large treasuries in your portfolio consider asking for them to be pushed out directly to you.  In other words you want the US Treasury to stop paying the monies you earn to the bank for redistribution to you.  Instead you want the treasury to be recorded as owned directly by you as if you'd bought it directly from the treasury in the first place and you want the interest payments to go into an account of your choosing (not the banks).

Reccomend this information to anyone with a brokerage account of any kind particularly those at brokerage units of large banks.  Taking more control of your portfolio could save you and thema lot of money one day. 

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:52 | 2603901 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Maybe. But the bank you have them pay the interest to can do the same thing. I really don't think our money is safe in banks. I know how outrageous that sounds with FDIC and all that, but I don't think so. The underlying assets are not really there to be sold in a crisis any way, never mind theft like this.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:10 | 2603936 Paul Atreides
Paul Atreides's picture

This information is useless, it's like walking up to the scene of a serious car accident and reminding the victims to buckle up.

Pull your wealth out of the banks and keep stacking physical bichez!

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:41 | 2604374 smiler03
smiler03's picture

I stopped reading at this point.... "Ask your investment advisor"

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:45 | 2603881 Blagio
Blagio's picture

I'm not sure what I enjoy more... getting it in the front end from the banksters or getting it in the back end by the politicians.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:45 | 2603884 Darkside
Darkside's picture

They protected him for years the only reason he got caught was an uncoverable margin call.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:54 | 2603908 kjlowther
kjlowther's picture

This is as much a SOX issue as a CFTC/NFA issue. If this has been going on for two years WTF were the auditors doing? The solutions are fairly simply - regular independent audit and verification of customer funds by authorized accounting firms (not your mom & pop corner office ones).

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:55 | 2603912 kjlowther
kjlowther's picture


Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:57 | 2603923 anolmec
anolmec's picture

So Whatadork tried to commit suicide and now he is in a coma. ??? Really??? Now thats RICH.

My bet is he is being attended by his private physician, dr. vinny boombatz , has a personal nurse with DDD's whose name is slipperystuff, and is onboard a 195 million dollar yatch out in international waters. 


not to sound like a skeptic but .......just sayin

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:02 | 2603944 dwdollar
dwdollar's picture

Yeah, sounds like this guy is going to do a Mubarak (i.e. suffer every medical disease known to man).

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 18:58 | 2603927 JenkinsLane
JenkinsLane's picture

The CFTC is itself a fraud. It's that simple. By extension, those running the CFTC are fraudsters. The organisation pretends it is there to safeguard investors but does not do THE MOST BASIC DUE DILIGENCE such as checking with the FCM's banks that customers funds are actually in existence. It should be disbanded entirely as it is thoroughly discredited and is it clearly not fit for purpose.

What's more worrying though is why it was never granted this obvious power, the ability to confirm with banks directly that customers' funds are where they should be. It is becoming more probable that the real agenda is simply to allow the TBTF entities to gain monopoly control over the commodities markets.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:05 | 2603953 JohnKing
JohnKing's picture

Yeah, Gensler will probably get a raise. This whole notion that someone can be held responsible for enterprise fraud is laughable.



Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:44 | 2604390 smiler03
smiler03's picture

My guess is that the CFTC was unable to get direct confirmation of funds from banks because the IRS/NSA has and wants to keep that power to themselves.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:05 | 2603929 ATG
ATG's picture

Nor did CFTC or SEC stop Madeoff or Snodfart.

Not one Big Wall Street Banker or Broker CEO went to jail:


JC or JD still wandering around looking at non-extraditable French Chateaux.

Are regulators waiting for the $648 T derivatives crash before they do their job and stop watching porn?

Just today they were grandstanding on CNBC again re making five doctors cough up $1.9 M for insider trading that netted $623,000, a pittance compared to the tens and 100s of billions HiFreq Algobots and prop houses routinely rake off orphans, pensions, public and widows:

And in related news, the CFTC took yet one more tiny step toward defining derivatives to exclude their banks and insurance masters by the end of the year when it was due under G&D this month:


Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:05 | 2603952 Big Ben
Big Ben's picture

What a fiendishly clever plan! He opened a PO box, told the regulators that it was the PO box of US Bank, and filled out all the documentation that the regulators sent to the PO box himself and returned. And the regulators never checked to be sure that the PO box really belonged to US Bank.

No wonder the regulators were fooled. They were obviously dealing with a diabolical criminal mastermind!

Thank heavens that in this country we have such a sharp bunch of regulators to watch porn safeguard our money for us.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:19 | 2603998 FubarNation
FubarNation's picture

Didn't someone mention Wankers hanging in the streets lately?

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:27 | 2604021 mdn
mdn's picture

MF Global was indeed a warning.

It's hard to have any sympathy for anyone, farmers included, who didn't heed that warning.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:42 | 2604069 Never One Roach
Never One Roach's picture

Nest of Roaches is what my neighbor calls them. There must be dozens if not hundreds up to the same fraud since the only consequnce is a few minutes before the Senate Circus Maximus and then you catch the evening flight to your Bermuda mansion next to Corzine and Mozillo.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:47 | 2604082 israhole
israhole's picture

It's the Jew World Order.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 19:50 | 2604092 billwilson
billwilson's picture

NFA mailed the confirmations to a PO BOX that they did not verify as accurate .... Holy Sh#t Batman.  That is Auditing 101!!! Unreal in this day and age.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:11 | 2604129 Joebloinvestor
Joebloinvestor's picture

A phone call and a fax of the bottom line is all anyone had to do to verify what was claimed over $250 million dollars.

At what price point does an auditor take his job seriously?

"Trust but verify"

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:13 | 2604134 DarthVaderMentor
DarthVaderMentor's picture

Just Fired with Predjudice? 


He needs to be arrested and held over for indictment with a huge bail amount because he is an imminent flight risk!

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:30 | 2604175 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

I have this recurring thought that we'll all go out into the world one morning, headed to work or wherever, while during the night the entire financial and ruling classes will have vanished.

Just vanished, as into a fog. Leaving no trace at all except some empty offices, phones that nobody answers, elevators opening onto vacant lobbies littered with unused cardboard shipping boxes, nobody home.

Papers blowing around in the street. Huge mounds of shreaded evidence dumped into alleys. Desk drawers left open and empty. Awards taken from their hooks on the wall leaving clean white squares on the paint, trophies gone, ash trays emptied into the potted plants.

No sign they ever existed. No bank accounts. No forwarding addresses. No good-bye notes. Not even a fuck-you note.

Damn. I should write that up as a short story.

"The Last Transaction"

But ... where did they go? And how?

Wed, 07/11/2012 - 00:30 | 2604906 Cathartes Aura
Cathartes Aura's picture

funnily enough, they have the same fantasy about "us" - difference being, I guess, that they're actively working on achieving that fantasy. . .

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:16 | 2604139 loveyajimbo
loveyajimbo's picture

Gensler has been a flagrant crook for years... just look at the silver manipulation that a 4 year old could have spotted... he needs to be investigated and put in prison, right after being beaten to a pathetic broken sobbing husk with lead pipes and ball bats.  Shapiro and Holder... on deck.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:45 | 2604391 SaveTheBales
SaveTheBales's picture

Whether Mr. Gensler is a crook or not, well, I watch what happens.  I try to avoid listening to what they say because it only muddies the water.  But I'm reasonably sure that he will part with nearly his entire considerable fortune to avoid becoming the wife of a bodybuilder in the Styx Unit.

This man will have better hair than Don King before he gets so much as a parking ticket, if past is prologue.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:21 | 2604154 tony bonn
tony bonn's picture

wall street is a den of thieves, the home of mammon - money is indeed the root of all evil.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:29 | 2604171 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

I think it is the love of money tony bonn...

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:52 | 2604223 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Or perhaps evil is the root of all money.

No. That cannot be right either.

I think evil is the root of itself. Like all other troublesome abstraction it arises from a fever and is an affliction of the mind.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:36 | 2604190 RationalPrepper
RationalPrepper's picture

Ignorant question from a guy with relatively little trading experience in a humble TD Ameritrade account:  Are brokerages like TD Amer at risk from this type of thing as well?

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:55 | 2604221 Paul Atreides
Paul Atreides's picture

If you can't touch it, it isn't yours.

1. Sell off your positions today.

2. Withdraw the cash tomorrow.

3. Close the account by Friday.

4. Buy physical silver and gold on the dips.


Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:19 | 2604313 HungrySeagull
HungrySeagull's picture

I don't even want to consider what the "Market" can do to the money I have in it should it go belly up in water that turned to blood. While I am out shopping and away from the computer.

I sleep well at night knowing the coins that matter are secured and the School of 12 gauge is the way.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:52 | 2604225 Yes_Questions
Yes_Questions's picture



Think of it this way.


Its not "your money" once its in some account.  FDIC insured or otherwise.


Its a debt owed to you...

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 22:10 | 2604474 HungrySeagull
HungrySeagull's picture

Here is another ignorant question from me...

If the Market fell and the sold shares to be redeemed worth more than the entire collective street....

Who then gets to pay?


Tue, 07/10/2012 - 20:50 | 2604216 Joe Ploppy
Joe Ploppy's picture

I had a large sum of money with PFG last year.  Thankfully, I moved it to another broker except for about $900 so that I could have access to quotes and some of their specialized SPAN calculators, and thus saving me having to pay montly fees for quotes and the price of the SPAN calculator.  So I've just been screwed $900....

Barney Frank is a douchebag.  So much for his advocacy of more regulation to be entrusted to the do-nothing CTFC.  What a bunch of useless creeps.

I worked as a co-op student for the IRS.  The IRS can push a button and list all your bank accounts and if they wanted, they could collect from those accounts!  I was there at the service center's collection centers and was horrified to watch big brother in action.  And yet the incompetent rubes at the CTFC can't even cross check the bank accounts of PFG?  It wouldn't have taken them but a couple of hours to check PFG, and it won't take them but 3 full-time staff worker to do the same for every broker in the USA.  What a bunch of do-nothing rubes.

And Barney Frank can lick some Tea Bags.  He's better at that than trying to regulate finance...



Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:04 | 2604248 Yes_Questions
Yes_Questions's picture




PFG's Chariman Was Forging Bank Documents For Years.

CFTC Was Not Foraging For Verification of Deposit For Years.


Shipping powders back and forth
Singing black goes south while white comes north
And the whole world full of petty wars
Singing I got mine and you got yours.
And the current fashions set the pace.
Lose your step, fall out of grace.
And the radical he rant and rage, singing someone got to turn the page
And the rich man in his summer home,
Singing just leave well enough alone
But his pants are down, his covers blown
And the politicians are throwing stones
So the kids they dance they shake their bones
Cause its all too clear were on our own

Singing ashes, ashes all fall down.
Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free
Its dizzying, the possibilities. ashes, ashes all fall down.


Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:06 | 2604254 Dubious Maximus
Dubious Maximus's picture

They found Wassendorf in his car, a Chevrolet Cavalier....a friggin' Cavalier!!?!?!?!?!  I mean, at least die in an Audi, a Benz, a Bimmer.  

Maybe he didn't want to soil the leather in one of those.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:17 | 2604302 HungrySeagull
HungrySeagull's picture

I took drivers Ed in a goddamn Cavalier.

At least it had just enough horse to go and not do anything outrageous.
My second drivers ed was much more fun. In a 53 White no less.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 21:12 | 2604286 Casual_Observer
Casual_Observer's picture

The oversight on the part of the so called oversight authorities involved is not surprising to anyone who has ever worked closley with fantastically wealthy people.

For the most part, save inheritance or creating great wealth by creating a better mouse trap or writing a wildly popular tune (and not having the fruits of their labor ripped-off by someone else), the very wealthy got wealthy by cutting corners, paying-off those at the highest levels of oversight and those at the rank-and-file levels of oversight ( so they can rip-0ff those at the top of the regulatory rung) or blatant, outright lies and theft for which they are never caught.

If the thievery is so wildly successful that they amass Scientology or Corzine type money, they are un-punishable. The "investigations" become part of the cover-up: MFGlobal Trustee, no Receiver & Madoff pleading guilty so there is no trial. The survivors of such a systemic fraud go right back to what they were doing. That's the M.O. & hubris of those that don't or even do get caught. The very next day, they're at it again.

Even when "economic sociopaths" or "economic terrorists" are identified red-handed where by some freak of nature or public outrage, they are found guilty, some pittance is paid: Countrywide/Mazullo & Google. Then they go on there merry way still holding heavy with a bevy of illgotten gain.

There have been people in society wired like this for all time. Now there are just a lot more of them with more efficient tools.

What society needs to do to combat them today is to get midevil on them.

It's beyond addressing in a regulatory sphere. There are to many corrupt regulators and investigators.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 22:41 | 2604573 Bansters-in-my-...
Bansters-in-my- feces's picture

This CFTC you speak of,they are part of the criminal cartel. Gary should be getting the soap on a rope treatment by a guy named Tiny.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 23:32 | 2604739 world_debt_slave
world_debt_slave's picture

Genslar, former Goldman Sachs, should give one a clue.

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 23:14 | 2604682 gina distrusts gov
gina distrusts gov's picture

The best punishment for the creeps would be to confiscate every last penny they own, all material possessions leave them in utter poverty. leave nothing for their family or offspring to profit from

and do the same to any regulator that fails to do the job they were hired for.

Judges that show even a bit of improper actions  should be hung immediately

same with politicans

Tue, 07/10/2012 - 23:31 | 2604734 world_debt_slave
world_debt_slave's picture

And he made sure to get home on time to have dinner with the wife and kids with a clear conscience.

Wed, 07/11/2012 - 00:39 | 2604928 TerraHertz
TerraHertz's picture

It's... it's BEAUTIFUL!

Just now on


Posted by Ann Barnhardt - July 10, AD 2012 4:59 PM MST

I Have Info For Anyone Who Wants to Sue the NFA


The same "Senior Compliance Manager" who signed off on the PFGBest affadavit and who is listed on the NFA website as both the "Director of Audits/Investigations" and the "Director of FOREX Compliance", Lauren Brinati, is the same woman whom I and my attorneys dealt with two years ago.

 Now, hold on to your pantyhose.

 One of my attorneys in the Schuyler Roche Crisham firm in Chicago, as livid as I was by the NFA's galactically stupid contention about hedgers being limited to one round-turn per cash inventory cycle, called Lauren Brinati to discuss the NFA's position. Lauren Brinati said that she couldn't discuss the matter with my attorney directly because:

"I don't actually understand any of this stuff. I just sign whatever comes across my desk."
Lauren Brinati, June 2010

 Lauren Brinati said that to my attorney in June of 2010.

 This woman is DIRECTOR OF AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS, and openly stated that not only did she have no understanding of the futures and options industry, but also admitted freely that she was a de facto robosigner who signed off on ANYTHING that came down from above.

 The NFA had full, direct auditing oversight of PFGBest because PFGBest was a non-clearing FCM. The Director of NFA Audits and Investigations, Lauren Brinati, admitted freely to my attorney that she lacked even rudimentary understanding of the industry, could not discuss even the simplest concepts, and signed whatever came across her desk from on high without understanding it.

Anyone who is interested in pursuing this as evidence of gross negligence and breach of fiduciary duty by the NFA, and Lauren Brinati personally, should have their attorney contact me.

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Go Ann!

Wed, 07/11/2012 - 05:36 | 2605180 onebir
onebir's picture


It is NOT POSSIBLE to get away with this if there are competent audits. High quality printing is cheap and available: I can't believe direct confirmation of bank balances with counterparty banks isn't a standard audit procedure. WTF are all those trainees for if not stuff like this!

Wed, 07/11/2012 - 08:28 | 2605403 Widowmaker
Widowmaker's picture

Self-regulation is 100% for show -- a fool's distraction.  It's the masterbation of fraud.

Confidence and trust come from clients, not from getting yourselves off.
