Posted on 05/23/2009 10:34:00 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Reporting from Los Angeles and Sacramento -- An ongoing investigation into pension fund corruption across the country intensified Friday as California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown directed subpoenas at politically connected firms and individuals, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
Brown issued the subpoenas as part of a probe into "placement agents" who help secure pension fund investment contracts for their clients in return for large sums of money, often millions of dollars.
The subpoenas seek information on the use and disclosure of placement agents and potential conflicts of interest, said sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing an ongoing investigation. Brown's spokesman, Scott Gerber, declined to comment.
The subpoenas for documents were issued to Gold Bridge Capital and Wetherly Capital -- both run by former fundraisers for former Gov. Gray Davis -- as well as former pension official Sean Harrigan, according to sources. It was unclear which of the subpoenas had been served as of late Friday.
Brown pulled back on delivering a subpoena to equity investor and fund manager Elliott Broidy, after he volunteered to talk with the attorney general's investigators, a person familiar with the investigation said. Broidy and Harrigan, both appointees of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, recently resigned their posts on the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions board after they were contacted in a related U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry.
The nationwide probe began in New York, where Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo has indicted six people in an alleged kickback scheme involving placement fees in the New York State pension fund. That investigation spread to numerous other states, including California.
...
Two weeks ago, former Wetherly employee Julio Ramirez Jr. pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to cooperate in the New York investigation.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
developing .. some more. :-)
I am not sure about Jerry Brown.
Yeah, like the fox guarding the henhouse.
Maybe if Moonbeam wants to be Guv again bad enough he’ll investigate it honestly, then again...
Ol’ Jerry is looking his age,, not sure he can sell himself to the young vote, looks like DiFi won’t run for sure.
We’ll probably see a moonbeam newsom ticket or newsom Perez hilton ticket from the dems
>>Yeah, like the fox guarding the henhouse.
He may be a liberal, but I think he has always acted as a man of conscience. I believe he will follow the evidence no matter where it leads.
LOL! newsom Perez hilton ticket from the dems
wouldn’t surprise me!
I hope this goes somewhere.
It’s about time that California got off its rear and went after some of the corruption.
Largely, it’s been the white-collar-crime enforcement-free zone compared to other state watchdogs.
Afraid so.
Thanks for the headsup.
This global conspiracy has govt fraud, money laundering and tax evasion written all over it. About time they all get nailed.
calcowgirl's May 13, 2009 post said Julio Ramirez Jr, a San Marino businessman with long-standing connections to LA City Hall has pleaded guilty to criminal securities fraud as part of a probe of alleged pay-to-play corruption at a NY state gov't pension fund.......
Ramirez is a former employee of Wetherly Capital Group, an LA investment marketing firm that allegedly gave kickbacks to a top political advisor of former NY Controller Alan Hevesi.
REFERENCE Dav-Wetherly Financial, L P
11601 Wilshire Blvd # 300
Los Angeles, CA 90025-0509
Location Type: Single Location
Est. Annual Sales: $68,000
Est.# of Employees: 1
An Israeli company-----Giza Venture Capital----- paid DAV-Wetherly Financial, of Los Angeles, a substantial finder's fee after it got authority to manage $20 million in NY state pension funds in 2005. ... DAV-Wetherly, in turn, secretly gave part of the fee to a Connecticut-based company run by NY political insiders.
The Israeli connection is crucial----debark there from anywhere in the world; bring a suitcase full of cash to any bank and no one asks you where you got it or whether taxes were paid on it.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration lost a long-running court battle over its plan to sell bonds to cover the state's public employee pension costs. The ruling could complicate negotiations over the state's already overdue budget. Republican lawmakers are holding up the $104 billion spending plan in part because they believe it will leave California with an unmanageably large budget deficit next year.
Tuesday's ruling may only add to that concern, depriving the state of more than $500 million to help close the estimated $5 billion-plus deficit in the 2008-09 budget year. Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders have proposed balancing the current, 2007-08 fiscal year budget with billions of dollars from a prior-year tax windfall.
That money will run out by the time officials begin drafting the budget that begins on July 1, 2008.
Consumer rights and anti-tax groups praised Tuesday's ruling. They said it set an important precedent limiting the state's ability to borrow money to pay ongoing expenses without voter approval. "If they had gotten permission to do this, we could have seen massive deficit spending," said Harold Johnson, an attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, which fought the bonds. "It's a big victory and a sobering message for the spendthrifts in the Legislature. They can't use the credit card to cover ongoing costs of government." --SNIP--
COMMENTS Will Arnold now have to start acting like a Republican on budget issues? Heck no! The man has grown government faster than a Dem could have dreamed and to finance it, he's deferred, borrowed (unsuccessfully), raised fees, and entered into special deals with Indian tribes.
He was scheming to pump up the volume for his proposed Public Private Partnerships, helping his cohorts loot Government assets if they will just pump some one-time cash into the State's revenue coffers, in return.
Think about the possibilities of Arnie's privatization deals: toll roads, bridges, ports, other privately run highways, schools, housing, security, etc. This man has 3 more years to payoff his donors through sweet deals and favorable legislation.
Optimism Springs Eternal once more.
>>Optimism Springs Eternal once more
Jerry Brown is a strange bird. He may be completely loony, but he is an honest loony.
I really think he will pursue this to the end.
Yes, he made Oakland the “special” place it is today.
“I hope this goes somewhere.
It’s about time that California got off its rear and went after some of the corruption.
Largely, it’s been the white-collar-crime enforcement-free zone compared to other state watchdogs.”
Freepers have been on this Calpers mess for a long time. Gray Davis and his elite thug backers used Calpers like a free ATM. Bill Clinton and his California elite thug backers used Calpers like free ATM and probably on a bigger scale.
The criminals who have held the California AG positions spike any attempt to investigate their elite thug buddies re raping and pillaging Calpers as their personal free ATM.
For a better understanding how California’s upcoming bankruptcy was financed and often controlled by left wingers using Calpers power and money go to the link below:
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/calpers/index
Take a trip down the cheaply painted Yellow Brick road where Calpers became the cash cow for left wing thugs in California to Bill Clintoon.
See how Calpers money and power was used to force enviral wet dreams on California and the USA.
Somehow the pings to you didn’t get posted on this reply:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2256945/posts?page=17#17
You are right, but I was thinking beyond CalPERS. And I would add the Sec of State's posiiton to one that has kept their eyes closed.
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