Detroit Pension Corruption

**Smirnoff** · September-30-13, 08:25 AM

Marty Bandemer: A former Detroit Police union president allegedly received $5,000 in cash from pension fund businessmen during a 2007 birthday party at the Atheneum Suite Hotel, according to court records. Bandemer also allegedly received $15,000 in casino chips from a pension businessman and a free trip from another to the Bahamas in 2008. Bandemer has not been charged with a crime.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2gNkZPZaE

**Packman41** · September-30-13, 09:06 AM

Wow. That is a very powerful article. I like it when they put a face to a name and call out who did what.

So, let’s not forget Alberta Tinsley-Talabi:
“She took a Caribbean trip, campaign cash and a donation from Dixon while supporting his $10 million city pension fund deal, according to prosecutors. She was later elected to the state House of Representatives and has not been charged in the ongoing corruption case.”

Oh, a promotion, how nice.

**Honky Tonk** · September-30-13, 09:37 AM

Originally Posted by Packman41

Oh, a promotion, how nice.

It's the American way.

**Smirnoff** · September-30-13, 11:50 AM

Marty's homie:

Paul Stewart: A former vice president of the Detroit Police Officers Association. He allegedly received a $5,000 casino chip bribe; a Christmas basket stuffed with cash; $2,500 during a trip to New York City and $2,500 during a trip to Florida; and trips to the Bahamas and Naples, Fla., with his mistress — all from people doing business with the pension fund, according to the indictment.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2gOaXSppk

**cla1945** · September-30-13, 12:30 PM

I trusted Marty to handle the pension funds in an honest way. Many of us thought he was a man of integrity...little did we know. 99.9% of retirees in the General City Pension Fund and the Detroit Police and Fire retirees knew absolutely nothing of the bribes, corruption, theft and dishonesty going on behind our backs by more people than Marty. We all [[retirees) put our faith in the trustees of the fund to perform their fiduciary duties and be above reproach. I certainly wasn't privy to the every day comings and goings in the office and we seldom received a prospectus from the City...if we did it was two to three years late and now I am sure the numbers were fudged.

I hope that all the people who have been responsible for pillaging the funds are held responsible and made to pay in some way, either monetarily or jailed or both, and that the retirees are not made to suffer because of them. I am a retiree from Detroit and would be devastated if my pension is cut, especially if our health care is stopped [[which I already pay a hefty premium for). I hope that my 30 years and all the years put in by other dedicated retirees are considered when it comes time to make any decisions about pension cuts.

**Wesley Mouch** · September-30-13, 12:30 PM

from article...

Orr is trying to end the complicated transaction in a high-stakes fight in bankruptcy court. His financial consultants argue total payments related to the Wall Street deal, including interest, could cost Detroit taxpayers more than $2.7 billion by 2034.

I'd like to hear the arguments again for how Detroit was screwed by the State because they didn't send revenue sharing money.

Note that 'Orr is trying to end the complicated deal'. Exactly how would that happen outside bankruptcy? Hey Mr. Banker, would you please be nice to us and let us off the hook for all that money you loaned us?

Its all the State's fault.

**jt1** · September-30-13, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by cla1945

I hope that all the people who have been responsible for pillaging the funds are held responsible and made to pay in some way, either monetarily or jailed or both, and that the retirees are not made to suffer because of them.

Yet you advocate for the citizens of the city suffer because they elected the corrupt officials that robbed the city and mismanaged the funds.

Funny how the morality and the responsibility changes based upon individual situation. Looks like the citizens and retirees all elected incompetent criminals. Perhaps they should all share in the pain due to their decisions.

**Packman41** · September-30-13, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by cla1945

I trusted Marty to handle the pension funds in an honest way. Many of us thought he was a man of integrity...little did we know. <..snip>.. We all [[retirees) put our faith in the trustees of the fund to perform their fiduciary duties and be above reproach.

Sorry to tell you this, but Marty, Paul and all trustees of municipal pension investment boards are not bound by ERISA rules of investing, so it is open season for them.

According to an Auditor’s Report released last week the Funds violated a State requirement and allocated too large a percentage of money into Alternative Funds, especially real estate. If the trustees cannot follow a rule as simple as that, then how can they be expected to evaluate the real estate investment deals presented to them?

Because the trustees are NOT regulated by ERISA they are not obligated to use a Qualified Professional Asset Manager [[QPAM) – a company that meets qualification standards outlined by ERISA. To the best of my knowledge, the GRS and P&F never used a QPAM qualified real estate manager to analyze or perform due diligence on any real estate deal.

Instead, they allowed any Tom, Dick or Harry to come into the investment board and give them a spiel. So what, exactly, was the investment expertise that either Marty or Paul or anybody else that sat on that investment board? Answer: Absolutely nothing. These guys didn’t have any training to properly evaluate what was in front of them and they had Billions of tax-payer money to play with and they played.

I once had a [[former) boss/mentor that went it into corporate pension fund investing and he avoided working with municipal pension funds. He told me there were two types of municipal pension fund trustees: [[1) Those that were so unknowledgeable that you could tell them nothing and [[2) Those that were so unknowledgeable that you could tell them anything.

The retirees should be asking hard questions of their pension trustees and find out why they failed in their fiduciary duties.

**Hermod** · September-30-13, 01:31 PM

To paraphrase Robert Heinlein, "In democracy, the citizens have ultimate authority and no responsibility. They only suffer responsibility through the the ultimate consequences of their actions. When they vote themselves the impossible, the disastrously possible happens to them.'

**Packman41** · September-30-13, 01:58 PM

I found this on Deadline Detroit: Detroit Pension Indictment Reads Like A Scorsese Movie
http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/artic...f#.UknIxcTD_2c

It's like DeNiro said in "Casino": This is the end result of all the bright lights, and the comp trips, and all the champagne and free hotel suites, and all the broads and all the booze. It's all been arranged just for us to get your money.

**Smirnoff** · September-30-13, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by cla1945

I trusted Marty to handle the pension funds in an honest way. Many of us thought he was a man of integrity...little did we know. 99.9% of retirees in the General City Pension Fund and the Detroit Police and Fire retirees knew absolutely nothing of the bribes, corruption, theft and dishonesty going on behind our backs by more people than Marty. We all [[retirees) put our faith in the trustees of the fund to perform their fiduciary duties and be above reproach. I certainly wasn't privy to the every day comings and goings in the office and we seldom received a prospectus from the City...if we did it was two to three years late and now I am sure the numbers were fudged.

I hope that all the people who have been responsible for pillaging the funds are held responsible and made to pay in some way, either monetarily or jailed or both, and that the retirees are not made to suffer because of them. I am a retiree from Detroit and would be devastated if my pension is cut, especially if our health care is stopped [[which I already pay a hefty premium for). I hope that my 30 years and all the years put in by other dedicated retirees are considered when it comes time to make any decisions about pension cuts.

AMEN: Do you think they are still talking big & pounding long-neck beers everyday at their favorite table at Sindbad's?????

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · September-30-13, 05:25 PM

I think nearly everyone in Detroit government- elected officials, political appointees, and rank-and-file workers- is corrupt. I don't think they have all committed crimes [[although certainly many have). But they don't show up to work in the morning with the intent of improving the city or serving the residents. They conspire to take money, get jobs for friends and family, finagle contracts, steal office supplies, go on tax-payer funded junkets, etc. That is the true corruption, legalities aside: people in government whose priority is the personal, not the public, good.

It seems crazy that so much clear wrongdoing goes on. It is crazier still that much of it is hardly covered up, and people aren't outraged. Where are the Occupy Grand Circus Park fools to protest the looting of the public treasury by those who work there?