SEC charges former CalPERS CEO with fraud
from MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday charged the former CEO of the California Public Employees' Retirement System - the largest public pension fund in the U.S. -- with falsifying letters that defrauded a private equity firm into paying $20 million in fees. The SEC alleges that former CalPERS CEO Federico Buenrostro and his friend Alfred Villalobos fabricated documents given to New York-based buyout shop Apollo Global Management. The alleged false documents gave Apollo the false impression that CalPERS had reviewed and signed required disclosure letters that met the public pension fund's internal procedures, the SEC said. John McCoy, associate regional director of the SEC's Los Angeles unit, said Buenrostro tricked Apollo into paying more than $20 million in fees to Villalobos, a placement agent or matchmaker hired by the private equity firm. CalPERS has roughly $235 billion in assets.