Posted on 04/27/2009 7:54:28 PM PDT by Lorianne
The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking detailed financial information from two members of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions board, according to letters obtained by the Los Angeles Times in a joint investigation [1] with ProPublica.
The letters to board members Sean Harrigan and Elliott Broidy ask for bank and brokerage account details, any finder's fees or placement agent fees, and documents "sufficient to identify all source of income greater than $10,000" received since the beginning of 2005.
They represent the strongest evidence to date that the SEC's ongoing "pay-to-play" investigation of New York's state pension fund has gone bi-coastal. The SEC has declined comment on the probe, which is being conducted alongside an investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
The LA Times carried this report [1] on the letters. Harrigan was at the helm of the California Public Employees' Retirement System from late 2001 until early 2005, during which time the fund invested $300 million with clients of Wetherly Capital Group, records show.
Wetherly had a fee-splitting deal with Hank Morris, [2]the subject of a 123-count indictment issued last month by Cuomo's office. A former political consultant in New York, Morris is charged with bribery, money laundering and other crimes for allegedly demanding payments from hedge funds and other investment firms for access to the state's $122 billion pension fund.
Morris was active as a placement agent in dealings with the New York fund and with Wetherly in California. Placement agents act as middlemen, helping investment firms get pension fund business in return for lucrative fees.
After Harrigan left CalPERS, he was appointed to the police and fire pension board by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. City ethics commission records state that Harrigan had retained Wetherly in 2006. Wetherly was active as a placement agent on 10 CalPERS investment deals between 2004 and 2009.
Broidy is a co-founder of Markstone Capital Group [3], a private equity group that encourages investments in Israel. He served as the Republican National Committee's finance chairman during the 2008 election. Broidy was appointed [4] to the police fire and pension board in 2002.
The letters say the financial information is being sought on a voluntary basis but also cautions that "facts acquired as a result of this inquiry may be considered for possible enforcement action by the Commission or other law enforcement agencies."
(supporting documents found at source article)
They’re definitely closing in on the crooks. Let’s hope they close the deal.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pension24-2009apr24,0,3108878.story
Reporting from New York — A Los Angeles investment firm run by a well-known Southern California political operative has become ensnared in a widening probe into the fees paid to advisors who help place investments in public pension funds.
Wetherly Capital Group has come under scrutiny for a $313,750 payment it made to a firm run by a New York political advisor who was arrested last month on charges of running a kickback scheme involving New York state’s pension fund.
Wetherly was founded by Dan Weinstein, a high-profile advisor to local politicians and longtime Democratic fundraiser. The firm made two payments to an entity controlled by Henry Morris, a New York political consultant at the center of the burgeoning scandal, according to an indictment last month in a case filed by New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo. The payments “represented the proceeds of criminal conduct,” said the indictment, which did not elaborate.
...Weinstein served as a fundraiser for former California Gov. Gray Davis and raised money in 2001 for former Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn’s winning campaign. Last fall he was the co-host of a fundraiser for the gubernatorial campaign of Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown at Davis’ home.
Pingaroo!
REFERENCE Wetherly Capital Group was founded by Dan Weinstein, a high-profile "advisor" to local pols......... and longtime Democratic fundraiser. Wetherly Capital is under scrutiny for making shady payments to a firm run by a New York political insider who was arrested on charges of running a kickback scheme involving that state’s pension fund.
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 New York state pension funds in 2005. ... DAV-Wetherly, in turn, secretly gave part of the fee to a Connecticut-based company run by NY insiders (Can you say money laundering and kickbacks?).
Spit....a one man company with a mere $68K in annual sales suddenly gets a multi-million dollar financial deal?
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
And keep in mind------infamous Wall Street fraudster Bernard Madoff financed Dems------Madoff had his filthy hands on many pension funds. Madoff's scam was being fed by J Ezra Merkin's four offshore hedge funds (while Merkin was getting billion dollar bailouts as GMAC chair). Merkin owns an Israeli bank....the one place on earth where one can debark from anywhere in the world, deposit a suitcase full of cash, and nobody asks where you got it.....or if taxes were paid on it.
L/E needs to determine the depth of collusion among these thieves. Looks like the lowlifes have taxpayers subsidizing their crooked operations.
I looked up DAV/Wetherly yesterday and found their SEC filing. It had a whole hierarchy of ownership. The ultimate owner of DAV Capital seemed to be Daniel Weinstein with Richard Ziman and Vicki Schiff playing a role. Vicki also used to be involved with the Los Angeles pension funds (I don’t remember the details exactly). By the way, take another look at that address...11601 Wilshire Blvd # 300. It must be a file room. They have more folks in this little network up on the 6th floor. ;-)
11601 Wilshire Blvd # 300 must be a file room. They have more folks in this little network up on the 6th floor....
Just a "friendly warning" to these scumbags.....do not try to throw us off the trail.
DAV Capital seemed to be Daniel Weinstein with Richard Ziman and Vicki Schiff playing a role.
Hmmmmm........making a fashion statement here with my crenellated foil chapeaux (/snic).
DAV?……… D for Daniel……… A for ?……… V for Vicky
Hmmm... D-A-V
And Ziman and Schiff are with A-V-P Advisors.
Lots of A’s and V’s... I dunno.
Arnold? ROFL!
Arnold? ....heh.......good one.
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