Free Republic

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...

EXCLUSIVE The explosive probe of NY state's pension fund may find payments by an Israeli company kicked back to indicted political guru Democrat Hank Morris.......Israel-based Giza Venture Capital paid DAV-Wetherly Financial, LA, a substantial finder's fee after it got to manage $20M in state pension funds in 2005......DAV-Wetherly, in turn, secretly gave part of the fee to Searle & Co, Conn...... NY AG Andrew Cuomo, has charged that Morris used Searle to illegally get $15M in kickbacks. Giza was given the contract as part of ousted Democrat Comptroller Alan Hevesi's efforts to pursue "investment opportunities" with Israeli-based companies. But the...

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...