Edward Siedle: Ohio Teacher Pension Documents Finally Released To Us Reveal Imprudent Investment Should Never Have Been Made

 Pension Warriors by Edward Siedle

Ohio Teacher Pension Documents Finally Released To Us Reveal Imprudent Investment Should Never Have Been Made

Not just any state pension would gamble and lose its entire $525 million investment in a private fund investing in companies that have "checkered financials." Forever Imprudent STRS Ohio did.

EDWARD SIEDLE
OCT 20, 2024
The ugly details of a grossly imprudent $525 million Panda Power gamble STRS Ohio lost, reveals why the Forever Imprudent pension has been stonewalling public records requests for years. Lots to hide.After nearly 4 years of public records litigation, the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio finally released to us offering documents related to just one of the hundreds of high-risk, costly private funds the pension has been gambling on in secret. The damning details of this single investment—disclosed in the offering documents to anyone who took the time to read them—reveals why the pension has been fighting for years to keep all its private investment stinkers secret. Lots to hide.

STRS Ohio staff somehow concluded investing state teacher retirement savings in a fund that openly-stated it would be investing in “companies that have a checkered financial history,” was prudent. It’s not easy to lose an entire $525 million investment (and harder still to get paid a bonus when you do) but STRS Ohio investment staff did just that.

 It’s not easy to lose an entire $525 million investment (and harder still to get paid a bonus when you do) but STRS Ohio investment staff did just that.

Here’s what The Toledo Blade had to say about Panda Power in Editorial: Prudent person fallacy

A $525 million loss by the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio in a private equity investment called Panda Power is revealing for the imprudence the “prudent person” law allows. STRS lost the entire investment. News of the investment debacle leaked from STRS in 2021.

The offering documents for the Panda Power fund shows the need for reform. The prospectus provided to the Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association’s pension consultant Edward Siedle is just like hundreds of other private investments in all of the Ohio pension fund portfolios.

Read entire Editorial: Prudent Person Fallacy  in Toledo Blade.