CalPERS Launches Placement Agent Review
Just got back to my hotel room in Dallas, and was greeted by an enormous stack of papers sent over by CalPERS. The first one is a press release, announcing that the pension system is "initiating a special review of the fees paid by its external managers to placement agents and their related activities." The rest appear to be disclosures made by various external managers about fees paid to ARVCO Financial Ventures, a placement agent led by former CalPERS board member Alfred Villalobos. peHUB had previously reported that these documents would be disseminated, and that current CalPERS board member Chuck Valdes is currently under investigation for accepting campaign contributions from Villalobos. The SEC and California Attorney General also are conducting investigations into possible pay-to-play at both state and municipal pension funds in California.
