Deal Makers Cash in on Detroit Pension Funds, Investigation Finds

The Detroit Free Press reports:

Detroit’s public pension boards routinely ignore their own rules and invest millions of dollars with companies that refuse to disclose when they pay middlemen to broker deals, a practice ripe for influence peddling, a Free Press investigation has found.

Federal regulators and legal experts are leery of such arrangements because of the potential for abuse, including kickbacks. Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a ban on letting investment groups hire consultants, lobbyists and others who smooth the way to getting money from public pension plans.

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