Peregrine probe eyes accounts in Iowa Investigators probing the alleged fraud at futures broker Peregrine Financial Group are intensifying their focus on a customer account held at a small town branch of US Bank where more than $200m is missing. Employees of the bank have been interviewed by regulators about account statements allegedly falsified by Russell Wasendorf Snr, Peregrine founder and chairman, who faces civil fraud charges over misusing customer funds and hiding their disappearance. The case has reinforced doubts about futures markets after last year's MF Global collapse. Peregrine, which did business as PFGBest, was required to hold $400m on behalf of customers, according to the National Futures Association, a self-regulatory body. Peregrine records showed $225m was on deposit at a US Bank branch in Cedar Falls, Iowa when the real sum was revealed to be $5.1m on Monday after Mr Wasendorf attempted suicide, regulators said. New details emerged about the events leading up to the discovery. NFA was onsite at Peregrine's Cedar Falls headquarters last week to conduct an annual audit of company accounts, a person familiar with the matter said. Officials sought to persuade Mr Wasendorf to authorise the regulator to check bank statements electronically rather than with paper statements. He agreed on Sunday, the day before the suicide attempt. Allegedly forged documents included with the legal complaint filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission appear to be bona fide US Bank statements showing accounts containing more than $200m. NFA discovered they were false after contacting the bank in response to a suicide note found with Mr Wasendorf, the person said. Authorities are focusing on accounts held at US Bank, including how money flowed in and out and whether it went directly to customers or passed through Peregrine or Mr Wasendorf. Mr Wasendorf, who has used US Bank since 1985, maintained a personal account as well as an account for his Italian restaurant in Cedar Falls, people familiar with the situation said. One question is whether the Peregrine account was opened as a customer segregated account, which would have required written acknowledgment by the bank, people familiar with the matter said. Parent company US Bancorp said: "We did indeed provide banking services to Peregrine Financial and are cooperating with regulators and the authorities on the matter." The money maintained in the US Bank account was customer cash and was not invested in any futures contracts, a person close to the situation said. Customer money that was invested in the futures market was held at Jefferies, Peregrine's clearing broker, which now holds $125m after liquidating positions. Scott O'Malia, a CFTC commissioner, said that he will convene an "emergency" technology committee meeting to improve customer protection. "After MF Global and after Peregrine, it is quite obvious the controls are not in place to prevent fraud," he said. We need a technology solution to know exactly where funds are, when they move and who's moving them. Some futures industry veterans said that keeping more than half of client money at a bank is a large share by industry standards. but may have reflected Peregrine's retail customer base. Brokers typically earn money through commissions and interest earned on customer funds. "Clearly that's a high percentage," said Fred Grede, bankruptcy trustee for Sentinel Management Group, a futures broker that failed in 2007. However brokers sometimes ask retail traders to post as much as double the collateral needed to trade futures, a broker said. Authorities are also looking into the role of Peregrine's outside auditor, Jeannie Veraja, a one-woman practice in Illinois. According to her website, Ms Veraja has a bachelor's degree in accounting and specialises in auditing securities, commodities and futures brokers and conducting forensic audits. A call and an email to Ms Veraja were not returned. Ms Veraja has been registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board since 2010 when the Dodd Frank law required auditors of brokers to register following the Madoff fraud. But the PCAOB has jurisdiction over auditors of securities firms. Its jurisdiction does not extend to futures commission merchants.