Agencia reguladora de los mercados de futuros ordena uso del servicio para todas las compañías de corretaje reguladas
NASHVILLE, TN – July 23, 2012 – Within 24 hours of a regulatory mandate to use electronic audit-confirmation service Confirmation, PFGBest, a commodity brokerage unit of Peregrine Financial Group, Inc., was exposed as a multi-year $215 million fraud.
"PFGBest is a sadly common example of how easily bank and account information can be falsified to evade detection of accounting frauds," said Brian Fox, founder and president of Confirmation. "CEO Russell Wasendorf resisted using our service for months, presumably because he knew that as soon as electronic confirmation went into effect, he would be exposed. Hemos visto varias veces casos como este desde el lanzamiento del servicio en 2000. La renuencia al uso de nuestro sistema es un alerta roja indicadora de fraude".
En este caso, miles de inversionistas en mercados de futuros tuvieron sus cuentas congeladas mientras las agencias reguladoras intentaban identificar la ubicación real de los fondos.
Press reports indicate that the NFA is moving to mandate use of Confirmation by all of their regulated brokerages.
"This is a textbook case of how easy it is to use false mailing addresses and fax machines to conceal massive theft and fraud," Fox added, referring to the way Wasendorf faxed forged confirmation documents and provided auditors with what they presumed was a bank's address but has now been reported as being controlled by Wasendorf to avoid detection. "El uso universal de nuestro sistema disuadirá los fraudes de esta escala en el futuro".
Auditors and financial institutions in more than 160 countries use Confirmation to help avoid the growing global propensity for fraud and the magnitude of those frauds. Al verificar la autenticidad de cada usuario, la solución basada en la nube de la compañía no solo mejora la calidad de las auditorías, sino que además logra que aumente la confianza de los inversionistas en los estados de cuenta financieros.
"This event, while tragic for its victims, is a tremendous validation of our service and an indictment on the outdated paper confirmation process," said Chris Schellhorn, CEO of Confirmation. "Son muchas las compañías e instituciones financieras que nos han llamado para utilizar nuestro sistema y llevarles la tranquilidad a sus inversionistas y clientes de que sus cuentas están seguras y son transparentes".
Schellhorn and Fox added that they have seen a significant surge in business inquiries, which happened concurrently with a planned expansion of the service to overseas markets including Turkey, Australia, and South Africa.
About Confirmation
Confirmation is the digital platform and global network trusted by audit firms, banks, law firms, and credit managers to quickly and securely verify financial data. As the inventor of electronic confirmations in 2000, we reshaped and modernized the audit confirmation process. Today, Confirmation helps nearly a million clients across 160 countries confirm more than $1 trillion in financial data every year. Learn more at Confirmation.com.
