U.S. futures regulators urged a delay in cash payouts to bankrupt Peregrine Financial Group's former customers, after finding false bookkeeping that cast doubts on a plan to return a portion of funds frozen since the brokerage's mid-July collapse. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a court filing that Peregrine Financial's books need double-checking after it found $45 million in "fictitious bookkeeping entries" and unusual activity or balances in customer accounts. The brokerage's bankruptcy trustee last week announced a long-awaited plan to return $123 million to Peregrine clients, whose accounts have been frozen since the firm's CEO attempted suicide on July 9 and confessed to years of bilking customers. The firm filed for bankruptcy protection on July 10 and the CEO, Russell Wasendorf Sr., was arrested three days later. Customers have been pressing the trustee hard to return funds, citing financial hardship and the closure of at least two businesses stemming
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