The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether illegal payments were made to employees at California public pension fund giant CalPERS and others to influence where they invested money. This is part of several nationwide probes into many public pension funds.
But as CalPERS is the biggest fund, they will get the most media focus. As is their wont when questioned about how they lost money on investments and now with a corruption investigation, CaLPERS says the amount of money involved, while in the millions, is just a tiny part of their totals assets of $200 billion. While that may be true, it is beside the point and seems deliberately evasive.
If CalPERS loses $1 billion on an investment, as they did in 2008 with Landsource, the public has a right to know and CalPERS should be held accountable. When a federal agency is investigating pay-to-play corruption, saying the amounts involved are just trifles is irrelevant and seemingly unconcerned with the matters at hand.