WASHINGTON (AP) _ Authorities say the chief of an Iowa-based brokerage firm where millions of dollars have vanished left a suicide note that prompted them to notify the FBI. Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson said the founder and chairman of Peregrine Financial Group was found Monday in his car outside company headquarters. The sheriff said a tube was running from the vehicle's tailpipe to its interior when officers arrived. He declined to discuss the contents of the note. A day after Russell Wasendorf Sr.'s apparent suicide attempt, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed civil fraud charges against the firm, accusing it and Wasendorf of misusing customer funds and failing to keep them separate from company money.