WBRZ - Baton Rouge

The founder of a brokerage house in Iowa got 50-years in federal prison for a scam that bilked 13,000 investors out of $215 million dollars over 20 years. Russ Wasendorf Sr. headed Peregrine Financial Group and caused what a judge called "staggering losses" to investors, employees and creditors. Judge Linda Reade says Wasendorf lacked the courage to stop his scam and fraud sooner and admit his company was a failure from when it started in the '90's.