Another shady pension deal in Detroit has been linked to ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, which has left one trustee wondering: “Will it ever end?”
That’s what longtime trustee George Orzech said today – one day after the Detroit police and fire pension board unanimously fired a real estate company for spending $3.1 million of retiree’s money on two mini strip malls in California – without informing the fund.
Turns out, the fired real estate firm also is accused in a federal indictment of giving numerous perks to Kilpatrick, including trips on private chartered jets, massages, golf outings and $50,000 to his civic fund.
The Free Press has confirmed, through court records and board minutes, that the fired firm is Detroit-based MayfieldGentry Realty Advisors, which is listed as “Company G” in the indictment of ex-Detroit Treasurer and Kilpatrick appointee Jeffrey Beasley.
Beasley, also Kilpatrick’s onetime fraternity brother, is charged with taking bribes and kickbacks in a scheme that cost two Detroit pension funds $84 million in losses.
In this latest pension fund controversy, Orzech, a trustee for more than 20 years, said he is especially troubled that a local company defrauded the pension fund.
“It was a big, big sense of disappointment,” said Orzech “They were a local minority firm that got a chance to grow. It’s disappointing.”
MayfieldGentry lawyer Peter Zeidenberg could not be reached for comment.
This latest development follows a yearlong Free Press investigation of the city's pension funds that revealed lavish travel by trustees and staff, questionable dealings by secretive middlemen and repeated incidents in which the funds' investment adviser failed to detect potential problems in the backgrounds of several businessmen pushing deals.
Free Press investigations also have showed $480 million in pension fund losses between February 2008 and late 2010 due to bad investments.
To date, Beasley is the only pension official to face criminal charges involving pension funds. He is accused of taking bribes in exchange for approving more than $200 million in pension fund investments, the indictment said.
The bribes, the indictment said, came in all forms: cash, travel, meals, golf clubs, drinks, gambling money, hotel stays, entertainment, Las Vegas concert tickets, limos and private plane flights.
http://www.freep.com/article/201205...ey-Beasley?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
Way to go democrats.
That’s what longtime trustee George Orzech said today – one day after the Detroit police and fire pension board unanimously fired a real estate company for spending $3.1 million of retiree’s money on two mini strip malls in California – without informing the fund.
Turns out, the fired real estate firm also is accused in a federal indictment of giving numerous perks to Kilpatrick, including trips on private chartered jets, massages, golf outings and $50,000 to his civic fund.
The Free Press has confirmed, through court records and board minutes, that the fired firm is Detroit-based MayfieldGentry Realty Advisors, which is listed as “Company G” in the indictment of ex-Detroit Treasurer and Kilpatrick appointee Jeffrey Beasley.
Beasley, also Kilpatrick’s onetime fraternity brother, is charged with taking bribes and kickbacks in a scheme that cost two Detroit pension funds $84 million in losses.
In this latest pension fund controversy, Orzech, a trustee for more than 20 years, said he is especially troubled that a local company defrauded the pension fund.
“It was a big, big sense of disappointment,” said Orzech “They were a local minority firm that got a chance to grow. It’s disappointing.”
MayfieldGentry lawyer Peter Zeidenberg could not be reached for comment.
This latest development follows a yearlong Free Press investigation of the city's pension funds that revealed lavish travel by trustees and staff, questionable dealings by secretive middlemen and repeated incidents in which the funds' investment adviser failed to detect potential problems in the backgrounds of several businessmen pushing deals.
Free Press investigations also have showed $480 million in pension fund losses between February 2008 and late 2010 due to bad investments.
To date, Beasley is the only pension official to face criminal charges involving pension funds. He is accused of taking bribes in exchange for approving more than $200 million in pension fund investments, the indictment said.
The bribes, the indictment said, came in all forms: cash, travel, meals, golf clubs, drinks, gambling money, hotel stays, entertainment, Las Vegas concert tickets, limos and private plane flights.
http://www.freep.com/article/201205...ey-Beasley?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
Way to go democrats.
