Chris Christie Gave Millions More Pension Dollars To Donor's Firm Than Disclosed, Documents Show
Source: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES
By David Sirota @davidsirota d.sirota@ibtimes.com
Andrew Perez @AndrewPerezDC andrew.perez@ibtimes.com on April 22 2015 2:49 PM EDT
New Jersey rules require Republican Gov. Chris Christie's administration to cancel investment contracts with firms whose officials raise or donate money to the governor’s political campaigns. But his administration has paid more than $16 million in pension fees to the financial firm that was led by Christie’s chief fundraiser and top donor, Jon Hanson.
The money -- far more than previously disclosed -- flowed to Hanson’s company, Prudential Financial, and its related funds that the state pension system has invested in. The new information, obtained through an open records request by International Business Times, comes as the Christie administration is facing a government investigation into whether it has fully disclosed all fees paid to financial firms -- some of whose executives have made donations to GOP groups backing Christie.
That investigation follows a recently concluded “pay to play” probe of the state’s pension system, and comes as Christie must decide whether to sign or veto a bipartisan bill to strengthen the anti-corruption laws governing the state’s investments. The new investigation was launched last week in response to IBTimes reporting that showed a significant spike in disclosed fees in 2014.
'Enhanced Transparency'
New Jersey Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff has said the higher fees reported this year were the result of a decision to publish performance fees, suggesting the public should “recognize that as enhanced transparency.” His statements -- and those of other Christie appointees -- suggest that the state had not acknowledged hundreds of millions of dollars in pension fees, despite state reports saying all fees were being disclosed. New Jersey statutes say that it is illegal “to make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit” key details in financial statements about securities.
-snip-
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/chris-christie-gave-millions-more-pension-dollars-donors-firm-disclosed-documents-1892540
= new reply since forum marked as read
Bridgegate is nothing compared to this and Christie is also in hot water for not distributing Hurr. Sandy relief funds to mayors who didn't support his re-election.
Triple indictments coming down?
