CHICAGO (Reuters) - The new wife of Peregrine Financial Group CEO Russell R. Wasendorf Sr. has sought an annulment of their marriage, claiming that he married her knowing he was about to be arrested for defrauding customers and was planning a suicide.
Nancy J. Paladino alleged that Wasendorf married her under false pretenses when they wed on June 30 at the ritzy Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas because he "did not advise of the fraud or the suicide," according to documents filed with Clark County District Court in Nevada.
Paladino, 48, filed her complaint for an annulment on August 13, a month after Wasendorf, 64, was arrested by federal investigators. He was arrested after being released from an Iowa City, Iowa, hospital, where he had recovered from a failed suicide.
Earlier this month, Wasendorf was indicted by a federal grand jury on 31 counts of overstating the amount of customer funds at his brokerage by tens of millions of dollars in faked monthly and yearly reports to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The CFTC has said Wasendorf misappropriated more than $200 million in customer funds. In a suicide note, Wasendorf confessed to bilking his customers out of millions of dollars over a nearly 20-year period. He is currently being held under suicide watch at the Linn County Jail in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Paladino did not reply to an email request for comment, and her attorney declined to comment on Monday. A spokeswoman for Wasendorf's public defender, Jane Kelly, said the office declined to comment on the annulment filing.
The wedding between Paladino, a former California real estate agent, and Wasendorf was one in a series of events leading up to the scandal-ridden CEO's attempted suicide last month.
The news of the Las Vegas wedding came as a surprise to friends and family in the days after his suicide attempt. Most people had no idea that it happened -- just weeks before a planned church wedding in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where he lived and Peregrine Financial Group's headquarters was based.
Paladino, in court documents, said she is seeking to have a judge declare the marriage null and void because Wasendorf obtained her consent to marry him under fraudulent means.
"At the time of the marriage, Defendant knew he was about to be caught and arrested for fraudulent activity, and had planned suicide to avoid the consequences," according to the filing.
The filing states that Paladino is not seeking spousal support from Wasendorf. It also states that she is unemployed and has no monthly income.
Michael Eidelman, the bankruptcy court-appointed receiver for Wasendorf, said he is negotiating with Paladino's attorney over assets in bank accounts that have both her and Wasendorf's name on them.
If convicted on all charges, Wasendorf faces up to 155 years in jail, a $7.75 million fine, and 93 years of supervised release following any imprisonment, according to prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa.
(This story corrects first paragraph to Wasendorf Sr. (from Wasendorf Jr.) in August 24 story)
(Reporting By P.J. Huffstutter and Ann Saphir; editing by John Wallace)
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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48806271/ns/business-personal_finance/
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