(Reuters) - Peregrine Financial Group's former chief executive, who pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $100 million from customers of his futures brokerage, will be sentenced on January 31, according to court documents filed on Monday.
Russell Wasendorf Sr., 64, who founded the now-defunct firm, faces a potential maximum sentence of 50 years in prison after pleading guilty in September to mail fraud, lying to regulators and embezzling customer money.
Wasendorf has been awaiting sentencing in a jail in Iowa, where Peregrine Financial was based. The January 31 hearing is in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Wasendorf's life unraveled in July when he attempted to kill himself and confessed in a suicide note to bilking customers over nearly 20 years.
Peregrine Financial, known as PFGBest, quickly collapsed and thousands of former customers are still missing money.
(Reporting By Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Grant McCool)
