Posted on 09/03/2009 8:26:04 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
The Cost of Doing Business?
/snip
The dirty little secret in the pension world is that kickbacks are more common than people think in the private markets and hedge funds where funds try to bribe underpaid pension fund managers. How do I know? Because I have been approached in the past (very subtle, using words like 'facilitate') and witnessed my fair share of shady deals across many pension funds where I asked myself why the heck is this pension fund manager so gun-ho on that fund?
The problem with kickbacks is even though you know they're happening, it's very hard to prove because pension fund managers know how to cover their tracks. This is why I believe every major public pension fund should adopt a comprehensive fraud policy which protects whistle-blowers and is reviewed annually by certified fraud examiners.
It makes me sick to my stomach seeing pension fund managers getting greased by private funds - and thankfully it's not pervasive - but denying this problem exists just leaves the door open to more abuse.
Finally, please bear in mind the Mother of all scams has nothing to do with pay-to-play, but everything to do with bogus benchmarks in alternative investments. As if this isn't bad enough, I heard of one pension fund that was massively short stocks since early March, has decided to retroactively change its weighting in equities (from underweight to market weight) and private markets (from overwight to underweight) so that its results do not look as bad going forward.
If true, that's what you call outright fraud.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Ping!
Been wondering for years when this was going to break the surface.
ZeroHedge & TD rockin’ da world! Good work @ this great site!
As the american people grow more corrupt the government they have must become just like them.. OR WORSE...
It makes me sick to my stomach seeing pension fund managers getting greased by private funds - and thankfully it's not pervasive - but denying this problem exists just leaves the door open to more abuse.
Our culture is becoming more corrupt - - liberal ideas having an effect...
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