Mary Pat and Chris Christie Wall Street firm where Chris Christies wife works is pulling in New Jersey pension fees Dec 17, 2014 9:31am PST by Laura Clawson Under Gov. Chris Christie, New Jersey has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Wall Street firms as management fees on the states pension funds. Just a few hundred thousand dollars of that has gone to a firm called Angelo Gordon over the past couple years, but David Sirota makes the case that its worth a closer look nonetheless. Why? Well, Angelo Gordon hired Mary Pat Christie—the governors wife—in 2012, paying her $475,000 a year. Mary Pat Christies hire came the year after New Jersey stopped investing with Angelo Gordon. Yet the state continues to pay the firm hundreds of thousands of dollars because: A spokesman for the New Jersey Treasury Department, Christopher Santarelli, said via email that while New Jersey “ended its investment” with Angelo Gordon in 2011, the payments were legitimate because the state continues to hold an “illiquid” investment in the firm. Christie officials declined to disclose details of what exactly that illiquid investment is and the justification for continuing to pay fees to Angelo Gordon. The governor, Mary Pat Christie and executives at Angelo Gordon all declined to comment. The illiquid investment is valued at $6.6 million, and the fees going from New Jersey to Angelo Gordon are declining as time goes by. But still, why? In all since 2006, state documents show New Jersey has paid more than $11.8 million in fees to Angelo Gordon -- more than the amount the state currently says it is projected to make on its investment in the firm. Former hedge fund manager Marshall Auerback told IBTimes that the outstanding illiquid investment is unusual. The obvious question here is, why is the Christie administration allowing fees to be paid to a financial firm for three years after the state terminated its investment? Auerback, who is now an executive at the economic policy group Institute for New Economic Thinking, said. This seems like a very one-sided deal for the manager. After three years, there doesn’t seem to be a time frame for selling the illiquid parts of the investment, and yet the manager gets to keep collecting fees. Its a great deal for Mary Pat Christies firm, but a terrible deal for taxpayers and for the public employees whose pension money is being used to pay the fees. The fact that Chris Christie does this kind of stuff openly while hoping to run for president really has to make you wonder what hed do if he thought no one was paying attention. Display 11 Comments View Full Site | Helpdesk ©2014 Kos Media
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 22:58:36 +0000
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