Potential RI AG Candidate Siedle Scores Additional $30M in Whistleblowing Case - Total Now $78M
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Ted Siedle, Forbes columnist and outspoken critic of Governor Gina Raimondo’s pension management, has now scored two large whistleblower payments from two different federal financial regulatory agencies.
This time, Siedle has received $30 million.
“Of the CFTC’s [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] portion, $30 million will go to one applicant, according to a letter this week sent to a total of five applicants, the person said, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. The other four applied too late or hadn’t helped investigators, according to the person who reviewed the agency’s letter,” reported Bloomberg on Friday.
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In 2017, Siedle secured the largest SEC whistleblower award ever -- $48 million. Both payments are related to a $367 million JP Morgan Chase settlement that charged the bank with failing to disclose certain conflicts of interest to some of its wealth management clients.
Both the SEC and the CFTC awards are record payments, for a total of $78 million.
In 2016, he obtained the first whistleblower award from the State of Indiana on behalf of a client.
Siedle Running in 2018 for Attorney General?
Siedle, who lives in Florida has confirmed to GoLocal that he is looking to purchase a home in Rhode Island as he is considering a run for Attorney General. Some like Raimondo have inferred he would be a carpet bagger candidate for attorney general and Siedle has stated what Rhode Island needs is a strong outsider who is independent.
Raimondo and Siedle
If Siedle ran for Attorney General, it would create a significant challenge for announced Democratic candidate Peter Neronha — the former U.S. Attorney, and it would also be a political problem for Raimondo.
Over the past four-plus years, Siedle has repeatedly raised concerns about Raimondo’s management of the RI employees pension fund and has repeatedly said that any money saved by pension reform has been squandered in fees to hedge funds.
Raimondo dismissed Siedle's criticism from the onset - he is a columnist for Forbes and a former SEC investigator - callin him an agenda driven “blogger.”
The rivalry by Siedle and Raimondo goes back to when Raimondo was Treasurer and Siedle criticized her investment strategy which focused a higher proportion than most states alternative investments, namely hedge funds.
After GoLocal unveiled the issues raised by Siedle, the Providence Journal reported a few month later -- in October of 2013 -- that Raimondo said, “There is nothing new here (of a Siedle report). This is just a rehash of criticism we have seen from this person in the past ... He is making tens of thousands of dollars, paid by opponents of pension reform, to poke holes in me...and our pension reform efforts.″
In 2017 on GoLocal LIVE, former Governor Chafee criticized Raimondo for not only her investment strategies as Treasurer, but also her claims about her role in pension reform. "And my final issue [on pension reform] is performance," said Chafee. "Retirees were promised their COLA would come back when the fund reached a certain solvency -- and now the hedge funds [investments] pushed that out further. The investments were terrible with the rapaciously high fees. The retirees have to be livid,” Chafee said.
Last year, Treasurer Seth Magaziner rejected Raimondo’s investment strategy and dramatically lowered the RI retirement’s system investment in hedge funds.
"We are moving away from the high-cost hedge funds that have failed to meet expectations while charging unacceptably high fees. Our new Back to Basics strategy will improve performance and reduce risk, providing a more secure future for Rhode Island public employees and all taxpayers,” said Magaziner.
In one Forbes column, Siedle wrote about Raimondo, "The wreckage related to Raimondo’s failed stint as a small-time venture capitalist is finally out in the open for all Rhode Islanders to see. The Point Judith II fund she pitched to the Employees Retirement System of Rhode Island (in which the pension risked $5 million) has returned a pathetic -1.1 percent over the past almost ten years—after paying her rich fees of 2.5 percent. If making money off your investors defines success, then Raimondo’s a superstar."
Related Slideshow: GoLocal: Benchmark Poll, October 2017
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