THE CASE OF THE MISSING SPONGEBOB COINS

When Peregrine Financial Group collapsed in July after revelations its chief executive allegedly stole client money for years, it was not just customer assets of the futures brokerage that went missing.

Some 76 sets of silver coins sporting the image of cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants were also unaccounted for, according to a note buried deep in a filing by Peregrine Financial's bankruptcy trustee late Thursday. Thirty-nine ounces of gold were also missing.

At Friday's prices, the gold would fetch about $66,000; the missing commemorative SpongeBob coin sets, minted in New Zealand, have a total retail value of about $20,000. Compared with the $215 million in customer money that regulators allege were wrongly siphoned from the firm by its CEO, Russell Wasendorf Sr., the value of the missing metals is marginal.

To read the complete article, see: Silver SpongeBob coins missing from defunct firm's assets (bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/07/13728529-silver
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Wayne Homren, Editor

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