Public Pension Officials in SEC Crosshairs – Forbes

In a civil complaint filed yesterday the SEC accused the former CEO and a former director of the CalPERS fund of scheming to defraud a private equity firm into paying $20 million in placement agent fees to a firm owned by the ex-board member. The former board member reaped at least $58 million in fees from money managers by helping to secure investments from CalPERS. Who would have thought that feeding from the public pension trough could be so lucrative?

Now that the elephant in the room has been acknowledged, the question is whether the looming larger issue, i.e., wrongdoing related to the overwhelming majority—not just a few of the largest—of the nation’s public pensions will finally get the attention it deserves.

via Public Pension Officials in SEC Crosshairs – Forbes.