The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the nation's largest public pension fund, has been hampered by secrecy, chronic underperformance, understated investment costs and potential conflicts of interest.
The report, released Thursday, was commissioned by the Retired Public Employees Association of California, a nonprofit advocacy group whose members include beneficiaries of the roughly $630 billion pension fund. The organization hired former Securities and Exchange Commission attorney and forensic pension investigator Edward Siedle after unsuccessful efforts to persuade California lawmakers to authorize an audit of CalPERS and establish an independent inspector general to oversee the system, according to NBC News.
