From Pension Warriors by Edward Siedle
Welcome To The Largest Public Pension Private Equity Document Release In History!
The Ohio Teachers pension was finally ordered to release records related to hundreds of its costliest, riskiest private investments. You're invited to review the once-secret documents.
Aug 18, 2025
This May, the Court of Appeals of Ohio handed us a decisive victory in our longstanding battle for public access to investment documents related to over 100 investment firms managing tens of billions in more than 400 private funds for the ultra-secretive State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio. While STRS elected not to appeal the Tenth District’s decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, the pension claimed that it was contractually required to notify each and every one of these investment managers of our public records victory and offer them the opportunity to assert any applicable exemptions under Ohio’s Sunshine Laws. Court order be damned—even after 5 years of litigation ending in victory, STRS said we still had to wait until each and every money manager had a chance to determine whether or not to provide the disclosure.
Months later, thankfully, our wait is now over. As indicated below, STRS has provided us with the first batch of its private investment documents, as approved by some of its money managers.
STRS’s response to the Court’s decision was profoundly disturbing in multiple respects.
First, why would any prudent fiduciary enter into an agreement with any money manager—worse still, each and every one of over 100 private firms managing over 400 funds—to withhold from the public, including participants and taxpayers, fundamental information regarding tens of billions in pension investments? Public pensions are, under applicable law, supposed to be subject to public scrutiny and accountability. Any private investment manager unwilling to submit to public scrutiny, simply should not be eligible to handle assets.
The contracts between STRS and its money managers should require firms to affirmatively agree to comply with, not evade, all applicable state laws.
The contracts between STRS and its money managers should require firms to affirmatively agree to comply with, not evade, all applicable state laws.
How is it possible that STRS staff approved contracts with over 100 of the pension’s private investment managers which included similar provisions shielding the managers from public scrutiny and potentially harming the pension? Coincidence?
Second, even if the pension imprudently entered into such agreements with each and every of its costliest, highest risk investment managers, are these agreements which favor Wall Street at the expense of stakeholders enforceable under Ohio law? Can these imprudent agreements trump the decision of the Court of Appeals? Does Wall Street have the final word on what the public is allowed to see?
Are these agreements which favor Wall Street at the expense of stakeholders enforceable under Ohio law? Can these imprudent agreements trump the decision of the Court of Appeals? Does Wall Street have the final word on what the public is allowed to see?
After decades of unchallenged public pension private investment secrecy schemes—in Ohio and nationally—answers to these troubling questions are long overdue. To state the obvious: Private investments don’t belong in public pensions!
Private investments don’t belong in public pensions!
• You’re Invited To Review The Private Investment Documents
The good news is that STRS has now provided us with a substantial first batch of its private investment documents. Here is the link to a Sharefile folder created by the law firm representing STRS (Isaac Wiles) where you can access all of the documents we have received to date. You do not need a password to access this folder. You may wish to download the documents and share them with others.
Here’s another link the documents which may be easier to access and download:
To our knowledge, this is the largest release by any public pension of private investment documents. Resistance to disclosure has been fierce. For over two decades, public pensions across America and their private investment managers have uniformly opposed release of such fundamental investment documents to the public.
Now that private equity has been approved for 401ks—supposedly based upon decades of proven performance in our nation’s public pensions—every investor needs to understand these high cost, high risk, secretive investments.
We will also release to the public any and all subsequent batches of private investment documents received from STRS.
To be clear, many of the STRS documents are redacted, some heavily. Investors may wish to note which firms and funds redact the most and the type of information withheld. Certain information withheld in the documents, and additional damning disclosures, can be obtained from the firms’ SEC filings (Investment Advisor Public Disclosure), particularly Form ADV, Part 2.
Regardless of the many redactions, plenty is disclosed in these documents which should be of concern to stakeholders. We recommend you use Artificial Intelligence to assist in your review and pay special attention to matters such as:
• Conflicts of interest;
• Self-dealing;
• Confidentiality;
• Valuation;
• Regulatory concerns;
• Performance and other fees; and
• Risk factors.
Think of this project as a treasure hunt, only you’re not looking for treasure. Let us know what you find. Happy Hunting!
posted by Kathie Bracy at 10:38 PM
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