Why Did It Take 20 Years to Catch Peregrine's CEO?

On Saturday, May 26, Doug McClelland traveled to Peregrine Financial Group’s $18 million headquarters in Cedar Falls, Iowa, for the trading firm’s annual meeting. McClelland, who operates a small brokerage in Lincoln, Neb., had roughly $500,000 invested in Peregrine accounts, including funds from farmers who’d lost money when MF Global collapsed last October. He hoped Peregrine, with its reputation for stability and good management, would give his investments a measure of security.

It was the first time McClelland had been to Peregrine, and he marveled at its 50,000-square-foot interior trimmed in bamboo, 24-hour gourmet restaurant for employees, in-house Montessori school, and floor-to-ceiling windows. “It was gorgeous,” he says, “stinking gorgeous.”