RI Retired Teachers Hire Forbes’ Siedle
Thursday, November 19, 2015
The Rhode Island Retired Teachers Association has hired Forbes columnist and Rhode Island pension critic Edward Siedle to serve as a liaison with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Former SEC lawyer Siedle was in Rhode Island on Wednesday to address a crowd of nearly 200 retirees at the Crown Plaza in Warwick during the morning session, and a smaller group of 25 later in the afternoon for a question and answer segment.
"Today's speech was about turning up the heat, and the message I conveyed is the pension is being looted, the pension will not replenish itself, and you're going to take hits as the pension underperforms," said Sieldle. "Staying still is not an option."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSiedle recently crowd-funded his effort to conduct a second investigation into the Rhode island pension system, after releasing his first investigation "Wall Street's License to Steal" in 2013.
Maintaining Pressure
Siedle wrote of the Retired Teachers Association desire to keep the pressure on the oversight of the fund management back in the fall.
"In September, when Diane Bucci, Legislative Chair of the Rhode Island Retired Teachers Association wrote to Kilmartin imploring him to investigate potential wrongdoing related to the pension, his office responded: “The Office of the Attorney General… has limited investigatory power. Among the areas that the office investigates are consumer complaints and matters related to insurance and public utilities. Our office does not investigate issues involving the solvency of the pension fund.”
Related Slideshow: RI Public Pension Reform: Wall Street’s License To Steal
See the key findings from Forbes' columnist Edward Siedle, who unveiled his investigative report into the RI pension system, "License to Steal," in October 2013.
"The Employee Retirement System of Rhode Island has secretly agreed to permit hedge fund managers to keep the state pension in the dark regarding how its assets are being invested; to grant mystery hedge fund investors a license to steal, or profit at its expense using inside information; and to engage in potentially illegal nondisclosure practices," said Siedle.
Related Articles
- State Pension System to be Investigated by Siedle
- Ted Siedle: Hedge Fund Industry Loves RI Pension—For Good Reason
- Ted Siedle and Matt Taibbi: 13 Who Made a Difference in RI in 2013
- NEW: Forbes’ Siedle to Conduct New Investigation into RI Pension Fund
- NEW: Forbes’ Siedle Releases Latest Investigation into RI Pension System
- Riley: AFSCME, Ted Siedle and Marcia Reback Hurt Rhode Island Retirees
- In Case You Missed It: Siedle Report on RI Pension Investments
- NEW: Siedle Blasts Raimondo for Withholding Hedge Fund Info
- Forbes’ Siedle Hits Goal with KickStarter to Audit RI Pension System
- Siedle’s Pension Investigation Crowdfunding Project Breaks 52%
- NEW: Forbes’ Siedle Launches Crowdfunding Site to Investigate Pensions
- MINDSETTER™ Ted Siedle: News from the State Pension is All Good
- Forbes Columnist Siedle Responds to MINDSETTER™ Riley’s Charges
- NEW: RI Pension Investigation Kickstarter Campaign by Forbes’ Siedle Goes Live