Questions raised over ex-city finance chief's relationship with banker, firm

Well, now, this adds an interesting wrinkle to things, doesn't it?

Close ties put Detroit pension deal brokers under scrutiny

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City lawyers trying to terminate a $1.4 billion pension deal blamed for plunging Detroit into bankruptcy want to question the deal’s architect, a former Kwame Kilpatrick appointee, about his relationship with a banker whose firm profited from the deal.

The lawyers want to know why Kilpatrick’s finance chief, Sean Werdlow, resigned in November 2005 and joined SBS Financial Products Co., which according to a lawsuit filed by the city was one of the municipal investment banks that engineered the pension deal. The firm was created by an investment bank headed by Suzanne Shank, who recently bought a 6,000-square-foot, multimillion-dollar home with Werdlow.

A lawsuit, bankruptcy documents, divorce files and interviews shed light on the deal and two powerful people whose relationship has drawn attention on the sidelines of the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Full article here
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2sfh0sM4P

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Originally Posted by downtownguy

Well, now, this adds an interesting wrinkle to things, doesn't it?

Close ties put Detroit pension deal brokers under scrutiny

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Statistically speaking, if you mix a Detroit appointee [[especially under KK) and a banker, the odds are 100% there will be at least one crook in the room.

Orr’s spokesman said the city’s legal team would explore the motives of all the players and companies involved in the transaction, should the lawsuit proceed to the evidence-gathering discovery phase.

Translation: Come back to negotiate a bigger haircut on these contracts, or here's an example of what we'll do to every one of the banks involved. He's playing hardball.

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Originally Posted by archfan

Orr’s spokesman said the city’s legal team would explore the motives of all the players and companies involved in the transaction, should the lawsuit proceed to the evidence-gathering discovery phase.

Translation: Come back to negotiate a bigger haircut on these contracts, or here's an example of what we'll do to every one of the banks involved. He's playing hardball.

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Orr is great at hitting fastballs.

more craziness. It figures. But will anyone go to jail behind this?

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Originally Posted by Hypestyles

more craziness. It figures. But will anyone go to jail behind this?

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Assuming there was a crime in there, which is certainly possible if not established, it was over eight years ago so a prosecution might run into statute of limitation problems.