July 16, 2021
From John Damschroder
A MESSAGE FROM TED SIEDLE ON THE STRS PUBLIC RECORDS LAWSUIT
Yesterday, following our initial court-ordered mediation, STRS provided us with records we requested six months ago regarding CEM Benchmarking, the firm STRS uses to benchmark its investment costs, and Cliffwater LLC, its alternative investments consultant. As you may recall, STRS had previously indicated that these two firms claimed providing the documents we requested pursuant to Ohio public records law would somehow result in irreparable harm to them. Now, after incurring $5,000 in legal fees for stonewalling, the so-called highly confidential CEM and Cliffwater documents have been handed over.
As promised, we are providing all the newly-released documents to you.
The more significant litigation regarding all the investment documents we requested -- none of which have been released to us -- continues. We do not believe that investment prospectuses and other materials which are required to be provided to ALL investors under the federal securities laws should be withheld from Ohio teachers whose retirement security is at risk in these funds. Wall Street must not be permitted to manipulate Ohio public records laws to thwart federal securities law compliance. There is no reason why Ohio teachers should be denied information regarding their retirement investments which all other investors worldwide are routinely provided.
Edward "Ted" Siedle is a former SEC attorney, investment banking and securities industry professional, and longtime Forbes writer. He is the nation's leading expert in forensic investigations of money managers and pensions, focusing upon excessive and hidden investment fees and risks, conflicts of interest and wrongdoing. He was named as one of the 40 most influential people in the U.S. pension debate by Institutional Investor Magazine for 2014 and 2015. His preliminary report on his forensic investigation of STRS, The High Cost of Secrecy, was released June 7, 2021.
John Damschroder, a Fremont native who worked in Gov. George Voinovich’s administration, writes about business and economic development in Ohio.
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