Ohio Teachers Pension Faces Special Audit Over Scathing Report
Chief Investment Officer
October 25, 2021
October 25, 2021
By Michael Katz
Ohio Teachers Pension Faces Special Audit Over Scathing Report
The state auditor says the information supports ‘a reasonable basis’ for conducting a probe of the retirement system.
In June, Benchmark Financial Services released preliminary findings of a forensic investigation of Ohio STRS titled “The High Cost of Secrecy.” The report ripped into the retirement system, saying it “has long abandoned transparency, choosing instead to collaborate with Wall Street firms to eviscerate Ohio public records laws and avoid accountability.”
The Ohio Auditor of State’s Office recently sent a letter to Ohio STRS Executive Director William Neville saying it has received “numerous complaints” regarding the report and that it had conducted a preliminary examination into the matter.
“The information obtained to date supports a reasonable basis for conducting a special audit,” the letter said. “As such, the Auditor of State is initiating a special audit of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.”
The pension fund may also have to foot the bill for the audit, as state law allows the state auditor to charge for audit services.
Benchmark was hired by the Ohio Retired Teachers Association (ORTA) earlier this year to conduct the forensic investigation. ORTA had raised $75,000 to contract pension audit expert and former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) attorney Edward “Ted” Siedle to conduct the report.
Ohio STRS has vehemently rejected the findings of the Benchmark report, saying it “contains numerous misstatements and allegations which are unsupported by evidence,” adding that “it is unconscionable for the author to make repeated baseless allegations.”
Related Stories:
Ohio Teachers Pension Fund Rejects Forensic Audit Findings
Ohio Retired Teachers Association Sues Ohio STRS for Transparency
posted by Kathie Bracy at 8:44 PM
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