I previously posted on CFA Chris Tobe's analysis of the use of RFP's to save the Kentucky Retirement System up to $85 million a year. See, CFA Chris Tobe Comments on Kentucky's Retirement System and the Need for RFP's (requests for proposals).
Well, he was in the news in another matter involving finances and Kentucky Retirement Systems, and I am sharing that story with you.
When the taxpayers are worried about their jobs and families, then government employees and those in financial positions with the government are going to be under rigorous scrutiny by those who are ultimately paying the bills.
Whistleblower Disputes Kentucky Retirement Officials on Placement Agent Claim"
A whistleblower and former member of the Kentucky Retirement System’s board of trustees is disputing claims that the pension plan hasn’t used placement agents recently. Chris Tobe is an investment expert who served on the system’s board for four years. He’s also the main witness in a Securities and Exchange Commissions investigation into KRS and its previous uses of placement agents.
Officials at the pension agency told lawmakers yesterday that they hadn’t used a placement agent in three years. But Tobe says the agency uses a group called ORG for real estate deals and that ORG is registered as an agent in California.
“And I think that to me, that disqualifies them as an independent consultant for KRS and that KRS should be much more sensitive to these issues since they are still in the middle of an SEC placement agent investigation,” he says.
Tobe says ORG is registered as a placement agent for the California Teachers Retirement System and that ORG can't be an "independent consultant" in Kentucky and a registered agent somewhere else.
Tobe also says KRS and even the legislature is ignoring an important report regarding Kentucky’s use of placement agents in the past, which can be found here.
Agency officials did not respond to a request for comment.
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