Chris Tobe: Research- another reason Governor is so desparate to kill transparency

From Chris Tobe, May 14, 2024 

 

Did Governor call investigations and order STRS staff to fight transparency in court for the 154 secret no-bid contracts in alternative assets to avoid another First Energy? https://pensionwarriorsdwardsiedle.substack.com/p/ohio-teacher-pensions-private-equity

At least 2 firms of the 154 STRS secret no-bid contracts that Governor wants kept secret have been in pay to play scandals. Carlyle was fined $20 million by the New York Attorney General in a pay to play scheme involving the State
Pension. https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/violation-tracker/ny-carlyle-group  Oaktree was fined by the SEC in 2018 on multiple pay to play violations with politicians related to public pensions in California and Rhode Island. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2018/ia-4960.pdf  

4 of the 154 secret no-bid contracts that Governor [DeWine] wants kept secret have obvious political connections. Summit was a big donor to the charter school initiative for former Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts. WL Ross & Co, LLC was founded by former Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. GTCR was founded by former Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and of course Bain is Mitt Romney’s firm. 

These 3 firms are huge [political] donors.

Vista’s Robert Smith is considered one of the biggest tax cheats in US History https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-02-03/how-billionaire-robert-smith-avoided-indictment-in-multimillion-dollar-tax-case?embedded-checkout=true  KKR was fined $30mm by the SEC on a investor protection violation in 2015 https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/violation-tracker/-kohlberg-kravis-roberts-and-co 

Blackstone was fined $39mm by the SEC on a investor protection violation in 2015 https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/violation-tracker/-blackstone-group 

https://theintercept.com/2021/07/02/charlie-baker-charter-schools-massachusetts-pension-fund/ 

Chris Tobe, CFA, CAIA

Chris Tobe is the author of Kentucky Fried Pensions: A Culture of Cover-up and Corruption 

More about Chris: https://www.whistleblowersinternational.com/our-firm/chris-tobe/