After admitting to embezzling over $100 million from his customers, Peregrine Financial Group's former CEO, Russell Wasendorf Sr., pleaded guilty to four charges related to the theft, lying to regulators and mail fraud, as reported by Yahoo News and Reuters.
Wasendorf, expecting to be released after entering his plea, was ordered to remain in jail until a judge decides whether he poses a flight risk.
Wasendorf pleaded guilty to stealing from his Peregrine customers, a futures brokerage, for up to almost 20 years.
In court, Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles asked Wasendorf, "Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?" Wasendorf answered, "Yes, your honor" to all four charges filed against him.
Prosecutors are pursuing a 50-year sentence while Wasendorf's public defender is arguing for 24 to 30 years.
The public defender said that due to Wasendorf's age, 64, that 24 to 30 years in prison is a life sentence.
The sentencing has yet to be scheduled.
On July 9 Wasendorf attempted suicide, on July 10 the company froze all funds in a bankruptcy filing and on July 13 Wasendorf was charged with 31 counts of lying to federal regulators in an effort to cover up his moves.
Since his arrest, Wasendorf has been placed on suicide watch and is being held in isolation in the Linn County Jail in Iowa.
Judge Scoles had originally felt that Wasendorf was not a flight risk as he had relinquished his passport and assets.
Prosecutors objected to Wasendorf's release, contending that he was at "serious risk" of fleeing, and added that the "defendant's crime is nothing short of breathtaking."
Chief Judge Linda Reads, of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Iowa, instead ruled that he will "remain detained pending further order of the court."
Prosecutors allege that the stolen money, upwards of about $200 million, has been hidden somewhere – and that Wasendorf may have access to it without the authorities finding out until it's too late and he has fled.
Prosecutors wrote in a filing, "If even the smallest portion of such a vast amount of money were hidden away, it could be all (the) incentive and means that defendant might need to flee a probable life sentence."
A lawsuit filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission names both Wasendorf and Peregrine for misappropriation of funds.
Wasendorf claims to have designed and run the scheme alone.
Wasendorf has allegedly been working with regulators to look for all of his assets. The prosecution attest that the action is only "designed to bolster his argument for release."
Wasendorf, who had planned to move in with his pastor, L.L., that had counseled him in prison, says that he is no longer suicidal. However, prosecutors wrote, "None of what defendant says can be taken at face value."
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