According to public records obtained by Bloomberg, CFTC reviewed PFGBest in 2007 and 2008 without finding fraud. The regulator was also scheduled to review the company in 2011, but did not because of a lack of resources.

Gary Gensler, chairman of CFTC, said last week that the agency’s $205 million budget wasn’t enough to properly regulate the industry, according to Bloomberg.

Gensler said in a prepared testimony that the system failed the customers of PFGBest and asked for Congress to give more power to federal regulators and industry regulators, like the National Futures Association, which uncovered the loss of more than $200 million from the Cedar Falls-based company. 

“I believe it is critical that we bring the regulators’ view of customer accounts into the 21st century,” Gensler said. “We must give the SROs (self-regulatory organizations) and the CFTC direct electronic access to the FCM’s (futures commission merchants) bank and custodial accounts for customer funds, without asking the FCM’s permission.”

On Friday, an Illinois-based PFGBest customer filed a class action lawsuit against the company’s CEO, Russell Wasendorf Sr.