Free Republic

SAN DIEGO -- Six former and current members of the San Diego municipal employees pension board were charged today with felony conflict of interest for benefiting from lavish and controversial increases in the city pension plan while also voting to under-fund the system. The charges, filed by District Atty. Bonnie Dumanis, are the first criminal charges levied in the controversy over the city's nearly $2 billion pension deficit. Each of the six face a possible sentence of three years in prison, a spokesman said. The Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating the city's failure to disclose the deficit when...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records from 12 current and former San Diego city officials in a criminal investigation of the city's pension fund and financial disclosures, documents released Wednesday show. The U.S. Justice Department asked for a trove of documents on pension underfunding and possible conflicts of interest on the pension board. The demand for e-mails, phone logs, minutes of board meetings, contracts and other records extends back to 1996, the year that the city decided to cut contributions to its pension plan and, at the same time, increase retirement benefits. The disclosures come less than...