Calpers Performance Claims Deserve SEC Scrutiny

Forbes reports:

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, Calpers, is sick and tired of "uninformed" critics taking swipes at it recently. The fund, which manages $200 billion in assets for California government employees, has seemingly had little time to grapple with the ongoing financial crisis amid the need to fend off a stream of allegations that its ranks are corrupt and its operations mismanaged.

Among the criticisms thrown at Calpers: Board-member junkets, under-the-table placement fees from outside agents to fund officials, payments by money managers to top investment staff, conflicts of interest involving investment consultants, collapsed real estate deals and multi-year rip-offs of the fund by banks handling its foreign exchange trade.