THE HIDDEN TRUTH

Behind the collapse of the economy in the U.S. and around the world is the massive loss of pension and retirement funds belonging to government employees, union workers and corporate 401k beneficiaries – these were the “investors” in the securitization fraud stemming from the unregulated derivatives.  Hordes of lawsuits have been filed by investors against Wall Street banks, but it’s pretty obvious the money is gone.
There have been “settlements” made and some with pay-offs in the future but those are only good as long as the banks stays out of bankruptcy.

BEWARE OF POLITICIANS AND STATE OFFICIALS PUSHING IDEALS FOR THE WRONG REASON

You may have family or friends that are teachers, policemen, firemen, or work in government jobs that risk their lives and work for less pay on the average than the private sector or even your county & city council members (council members who generally couldn’t fight a fire or stop a robbery… or even teach your kids). These are the folks whose pensions were risked in the Wall Street securitization Ponzi scheme that collapsed the nation’s economy and put us all into a tail spin. The administrators of these funds and their government bosses should be held accountable.

However, instead of investigating the administrators – there are underground movements that convince the public that these retirement and pension funds must be ended.  In reality, it’s because the politicians and public officials know the amount of money they lost can never be replaced. This doesn’t stop the carelessness and barely curbs the enthusiasm of state and county financial managers from repeating the same dirty deed.

Look-Out America – This Too Could Be Your Pension Fund

One such instance of public manipulation by political parties controlled by the “elites” was recently reported By Carli Teproff of the Miami Herald in Hollywood voters: Cut the pensions:

“Hollywood residents made it clear Tuesday: The city can no longer afford its current employee pension plans. With a low voter turnout — about 13 percent of the city’s 84,521 registered voters — residents cast ballots to strip police, firefighters and the city’s general employee’s of their current pension plans, allowing the city to save $8.5 million.”

Because financial managers for the states and counties made grave errors in judgment costing billions of dollars of lost pension and retirement funds – government workers’ pensions are stripped. This is unconscionable! But what is even more heinous is the fact that there is political underground swell pushing the negative reactions as if it is “their” call to action on behalf of the public when in fact, these politicals (in some cases both political parties) are just working on behalf of the “elites” in addition to protecting themselves from gross negligence. We, the people, are being “used” and “abused” and this has got to stop.

If the Hollywood, Florida voters knew the whole truth about why they were even forced to vote on such an issue, they may have come to a different conclusion.

Reading numerous investor lawsuits, one would ask why anyone would have invested in unregulated derivatives after January 2007 when the market was tanking and securities fraud was more than a mere question.  Was it an investment or a favor to prop up the banks?  Was it politically motivated?

The Maui County v. Merrill Lynch case is a prime example of Merrill Lynch taking advantage of county investment officers who made investments in August 2008. When discovery in the civil suit started in 2010, Maui uncovered emails from Merrill Lynch brokers that demonstrated the investment firm knew the auction-rate system was headed for a crash, but continued to assure county finance officials that the paper was as good as money-market certificates.

One email, cited in an amended complaint in U.S. District Court in March, quoted Merrill executive John Price warning, “Market is collapsing. No more $2K dinners at CRU!!”

Cru was a Greenwich Village eatery, now closed, known for its extensive wine list.

At the same time, though, brokers were pressing Maui County to buy more of the securities and assuring officials that the auctions were working and never failed. In fact, by November, when Price was becoming alarmed about his dinners, the auctions were failing regularly, and had been since August, according to the county’s suit. Source: Sense on Cents 

Luckily, Maui sued in the nick of time.  Many other states waited too long, hiding with their heads in the sand and lost any chance they may have had in certain claims due to the statute of limitations. There is a 3 year statute of limitations that bars claims made under certain SEC statutes: “no Section 11 claim may be brought ‘more than three years after the security was bona fide offered to the public,’” and “no Section 12(a)(2) claim may be brought ‘more than three years after the sale.’” Pursuant to Section 13, claims under Section 11, must also be brought within one year from the discovery of the false statement or omission, or from the time such discovery should have been made through the use of reasonable diligence, but in no case more that three years after the security was first offered to the public. This means, any pension and retirement fund investments made in unregulated securities (MBS, ARS, ABS) prior to today’s date in 2008 are without remedy if they haven’t filed a lawsuit unless they can allege and prove fraud.

Recently, the District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which changed the 1 year/3 years statute of limitations to a 2 years/5 years structure for Rule 10b-5 claims, did not alter the statute of limitations in Section 11 (or Section 12(a)(2)). That holding related to thirty-seven individual actions involving claims under Section 11 and Section 12(a)(2), in connection with WorldCom’s bond offerings. Specifically, that court held that Section 13’s shorter limitations period continues to apply to Section 11 claims because these claims do not involve “fraud, deceit manipulation or contrivance.”

And here is a final thought for this post – one that should shake your very soul:

Judges’ Pensions

A final factor to consider is that judges also get pensions — in Rhode Island, California and elsewhere. They’re sworn to uphold the law. But the law has many gray areas. They want their pensions at full value. But they’re also aware that, if the whole system collapses and the checks stop going out — as some have warned could happen if the money dries up — they’ll get nothing. Should they be presiding over these cases where they or their friends (who are affected by the law they create) could end up with “nothing” if they rule against the banks? Let’s face it – they might as well forget about the pension – make good law and write a best seller because the money is gone. We’re already into the smoke and mirrors phase of the pension tsunami.

We’re still at the beginning but it’s still heading toward the shore. Soon it will surge ashore and take any chance of recovering the pensions with it.
______________________________________________________________________

Just A Glance at “Some” of the Securitization Lawsuits – In the $TRILLIONS!
This is no where near all of the bad pension and retirement fund investments:

BRAND NEW 10/4/11:
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, by ERIC T. SCHNEIDERMAN, Attorney General of the State of New York v. THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON CORPORATION
On behalf of NEW YORK CITY EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM; TEACHERS’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK; NEW YORK CITY POLICE PENSION FUND, SUBCHAPTER 2; NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT PENSION FUND, SUBCHAPTER 2; NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION RETIREMENT SYSTEM; NEW YORK CITY POLICE OFFICERS’ VARIABLE SUPPLEMENTS FUND; NEW YORK CITY POLICE SUPERIOR OFFICERS’ VARIABLE SUPPLEMENTS FUND; NEW YORK CITY FIREFIGHTERS’ VARIABLE SUPPLEMENTS FUND; NEW YORK CITY FIRE OFFICERS’ VARIABLE SUPPLEMENTS FUND; TEACHERS’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK VARIABLE ANNUITY FUNDS; THE CITY OF NEW YORK GROUP TRUST; and THE NEW YORK CITY DEFERRED COMPENSATION PLAN; STATE OF NEW YORK, ex rel. FX Analytics

Joel Stratte-Mcclure v. Morgan Stanley, et al., CV08-00963-AG including
State-Boston Retirement System;
In re Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Securities Litigation, Master File No. 1:10-cv-03461-PAC (S.D.N.Y): including Arkansas Teachers Retirement System; West Virginia Investment Management Board; Plumbers and Pipefitters Pension Group
Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois;
Baltimore County Employees’ Retirement System in
City of St. Clair Shores General Employees’ Retirement System v. Lender Processing Services, Inc., et al., Case No. 3:10-cv-01073 (M.D. Fla.);
Maine State Ret. Sys. v. Countrywide Fin. Corp., No. 2:10-cv-00302, slip. op. at 32 (C.D. Cal. May 5, 2011);
Public Employees’Ret. Sys. of Miss. v. Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., 714 F. Supp. 2d 475, 483 (S.D.N.Y. 2010);
Public Employees’ Ret. Sys. of Miss. v. Goldman Sachs Grp., No. 09-cv-1110, 2011 WL 135821, at *10-11 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 12, 2011);
Employees’ Retirement Sys. of the Gov’t of the Virgin Islands v. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., No.09-cv-3701, 2011 WL 1201520, at *8 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 30, 2011);
New Jersey Carpenters Vacation Fund v. Royal Bank of Scotland Grp., PLC,  720 F. Supp. 2d 254, 268-69 (S.D.N.Y. 2010);
Tsereteli v. Residential Asset Securitization Trust 2005-A8 and Plumbers’ Union Local No. 12 Pension Fund v. Nomura Asset Acceptance Corp. 692 F. Supp. 2d 387, 392-93, 396 (S.D.N.Y. 2010);
Boilermakers Nat’l Annuity Trust Fund v. WAMU Mortg. Pass-Through Certificates, Series AR1, 748 F. Supp. 2d 1246 (W.D. Wash. 2010);
City of Ann Arbor Employees’ Ret. Sys. v. Citigroup Mortg. Loan Trust Inc., 703 F. Supp. 2d 253 (E.D.N.Y. 2010);
City of Pontiac General Employees’ Ret. Sys. v. MBIA. Inc., No. 09-4609-cv, 2011 WL 677404 (2d Cir. Feb. 28, 2011);
ECA, Local 134 IBEW Joint Pension Trust of Chicago v. JP Morgan Chase Co., 553 F.3d 187 (2d Cir. 2009);
NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund v. Goldman, Sachs & Co., No. 08-cv-10783, 2010 WL 4054149 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 14, 2010);
New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund v. DLJ Mortg. Capital, Inc.,No. 08-cv-5653, 2009 WL 890368 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 23, 2009);
New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund v. DLJ Mortg. Capital, Inc., No. 08-cv-5653, 2010 WL 1473288 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 29, 2010);
New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund v. NovaStar Mortg., Inc., No. 08-cv-5310, 2011 WL 1338195 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2011);
New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund v. Residential Capital, LLC, No. 08-cv-8781, 2010 WL 1257528 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2010);
Massachusetts Bricklayers & Masons Funds v. Deutsche Alt-A Sec., No. CV 08-3178 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 23, 2010);
Vermont Pension Inv. Committee v. Goldman Sachs & Co., No. 11-15087 (9th Cir. May 2, 2011);
Plumbers’ Union Local No. 12 Pension Fund v. Nomura Asset Acceptance Corp., 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 1254 (1st Cir. Mass. Jan. 20, 2011);
The Government of Guam Retirement Fund et al v. Countrywide Financial Corporation et al., Case No. 2:2011cv06239, filed July 28, 2011;
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System v. Fuld et al, Case No. 1:2011cv01281, filed February 24, 2011;
California Public Employees’ Retirement System v. Moody’s Corp. et al, Case No. 3:2009cv03629, filed August 7, 2009;
County of Maui v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Incorporated; Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.; USDC, District of Hawaii, Civil No. CV10-00077 LEK
General Retirement System of the City of Detroit v. The Wells Fargo Mortgage Backed Securities 2006-AR18 Trust, et al.

Luther, et al v. Countrywide Financial Corp.,et al. including Vermont Pension Investment Committee, Mashreqbank, p.s.c., Pension Trust Fund for Operating Engineers, Operating Engineers Annuity Plan, Washington State Plumbing & Pipefitting Pension Trust, and Maine State Retirement System;

Oregon Public Employee Retirement Fund v. Countrywide Financial Corporation, joined by Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System, General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church and the Orange County Employees’ Retirement System;

Indiana State Police Pension Trust, Indiana State Teachers Retirement Fund, et al., v. Chrysler LLC, et al. The Indiana Pensioners are (a) two pension funds that are fiduciaries for the investment of billions of dollars of retirement assets for approximately 100,000 Indiana civil servants, including police officers, school teachers and their families, and (2) an infrastructure construction fund; together they hold approximately $42.5 million of First Lien Debt.

In re American International Group, Inc. Securities Litigation, Southern District of New York – Ohio Attorney General Clients: Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund; Ohio Public Employees Retirement System; and State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio;

Lehman Brothers Securities Litigation, including Police and Fire Retirement System of the City of Detroit, Brockton Contributory Retirement System, Teamsters Allied Benefit Funds, American European Insurance Company, Inter-Local Pension Fund Graphics Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters;

In re UBS AG Securities Litigation, including City of Pontiac Policemen’s and Firemen’s Retirement System, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillagspension, Union Asset Management Holding AG, International Fund Management S.A., Teamsters Union Local 500 Severance Fund, Council of the Borough of South Tyneside Acting in its Capacity as the Administering Authority of the Tyne Wear Pension Fund;

In re Bank of America Corp. Securities, ERISA & Derivative Litigation, No. 09 MDL 2058 (DC) (S.D.N.Y.) – Ohio Attorney General Clients: Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, Teacher Retirement System of Texas, Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn, Fjärde AP-Fonden and State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio

Ohio Public Employees Retirement System v. Fannie Mae (part of In re Fannie Mae Securities Litigation) District Court for the District of Columbia – Ohio Attorney General Clients: Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio

Scott Reimer v. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., Northern District of Ohio – Ohio Attorney General Clients: Ohio Public Employees Retirement System

In re Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. Securities, Derivative, and ERISA Litigation, Southern District of New York – Ohio Attorney General Clients: State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio

Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund v. Standard & Poor’s, Southern District of Ohio – Ohio Attorney General Clients: Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund; Ohio Public Employees Retirement System; State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio; School Employees Retirement System of Ohio; and Ohio Public Employees Deferred Compensation Program

 In re IndyMac Mortgage-Backed Securities Litigation, 718 F. Supp.2d 495 (S.D.N.Y. 2010)  Investor lawsuits:
          City of Philadelphia Board of Pensions and Retirement (“Philadelphia”)
          County Employees Retirement Association (“Los Angeles”)
          Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi (“Mississippi”)
          General Retirement System of the City of Detroit (“Detroit Retirement”)
          Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System (“Iowa”)
          Wyoming State Treasurer and Wyoming Retirement System
          (collectively,“Wyoming”)

SECOND AMENDED CONSOLIDATED CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933: In re INDYMAC MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES LITIGATION

Police and Fire Retirement System of the City of Detroit v. IndyMac MBS, Inc., et al., 09 Civ. 4583 (LAK);
Wyoming State Treasurer, et ano v. Olinski, et al., 09 Civ. 5933 (LAK);

City of Livonia Employees’ Retirement System and Hawaii Sheet Metal Workers Pension Fund (lead Plainitiffs):  The global settlement, including $590 million agreed to be paid by Wells Fargo, and $37 million from Wachovia auditor KPMG, is the largest recovery under the Securities Act of 1933, the 14th largest class action securities settlement ever, and the largest such credit-crisis settlement to date.  The lawsuit focused on Wachovia’s exposure to “pick-a-pay” loans, which the bank’s offering materials said were of “pristine credit quality,” but which were actually allegedly made to subprime borrowers, and which ultimately massively impaired the bank’s mortgage portfolio.  The lawsuit alleged Wachovia’s offering materials materially misstated and failed to disclose the true nature and quality of Wachovia’s mortgage loan portfolio, which exposed the bank and misled investors to tens of billions of dollars of losses on mortgage-related assets.

Local No. 38 IBEW Pension Fund v. Am. Express Co., 2010 WL 2834226 (S.D.N.Y. July 19, 2010);
IBEW Local 90 Pension Fund vs. Deutsche Bank;
Public Employees’ Ret. Sys. of Mississippi, et al. v. Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., et al.;

In re Wells Fargo Mortgage-Backed Certificates Litigation, 09-01376, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose):
Lead Plaintiffs: Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association;
Government of Guam Retirement Fund;
New Orleans Employees’ Retirement System;
Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension and Relief Fund
Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi;
Vermont Pension Investment Committee

In re Bear Stearns Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates Litigation;

Plumbers’ & Pipefitters’ Local #562 Supplemental Plan & Trust, et al. v. J.P. Morgan Acceptance Corp., et al.;
New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund v. Residential Capital LLC, 08-08781, (New Jersey);
Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi v. Merrill Lynch & Co., 08-010841;
New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund v. DLJ Mortgage Capital Inc., 08-05653;
New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund, et al., v. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, PLC, Civ. No. 08-5093 (HB) (S.D.N.Y.), Carpenters Vacation Fund v. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc., Boilermaker Blacksmith National Pension Trust; 
Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., 09-01110;

In re Morgan Stanley Pass-Through Certificates Litigation, 09-02137;
In re IndyMac Mortgage-Backed Securities Litigation, 09-04583, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan);
Plumbers’ & Pipefitters’ Local #562 Supplemental Plan & Trust v. J.P. Morgan Acceptance Corp., 08-01713, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn);
General Retirement System of the City of Detroit v. The Wells Fargo Mortgage Backed Securities, No. 09-1376;
New Orleans Employees’ Retirement System v. Wells Fargo Asset Securities Corporation, No. 09-1620;
In re 2008 Fannie Mae Securities Litigation, including Boston Retirement Board and Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System;
In re Washington Mutual Mortgage- Backed Securities Litigation, 09-cv-00037, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington (Seattle).
Source: Internet Legal Filings

Alaska Public Employees Retirement System $61,477,033
Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System 580,815 | $19,811,610
California Public Employees Retirement System 11,096,822 | $378,513,000
California State Teachers Retirement System 15,178,407 | $517,735,463
County of Maui (Hawaii) | $44,000,000
Fresno City Employees Retirement System 58,828 | $2,006,621
Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System 1,292,519 | $44,087,823
Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association 532,580 | $18,166,000
Merced County (CA) Employees’ Retirement Association 64,744 | $2,208,418
Sacramento County Employees’ Retirement System 384,785 | $13,125,000
Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association 4,570,621 | $190,458,000
Connecticut Combined Investment Funds (CIF) $60,967,771
Florida Retirement System – Defined Benefit Pension Plan $503,973,296
Florida Retirement System – Investment Plan $2,115,031
Georgia Teachers Retirement System 5,938,695 $202,568,886
Hawaii ARS (2007Z) $647,000,000
Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (2008) $56,754,914
Illinois Teachers Retirement System $65,932,720
Indiana Public Employees’ Retirement Fund 866,723 | $29,564,000
Kentucky Retirement Systems – Insurance Fund 206,975 | $7,095,917
Kentucky Teachers Retirement System $81,600,125
Louisiana State Employees Retiremment System 545,450 | $18,605,300
Louisiana Teachers Retirement System 907,616 | $30,958,782
Maryland State Retirement and Pension System 2,750,631 | $93,824,023
Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund $57,574,000
Minnesota Public Employees Retirement Association $87,100,000
Minnesota Teachers Retirement Association $84,800,000
Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System 2,636,943 | $89,946,126
Missouri Public School Employee Retirement System $55,069,162
New Hampshire Retirement System 380,300 | $12,972,000
New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits 6,528,154 | $222,700,000
New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (Pension) 626,331 | $7,445,824
New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association 917,351 | $31,290,843
New York State and Local Retirement System 15,401,817 | $689,231,311
New York State Teachers Retirement System $430,617,943
New York City Board of Education Retirement System $9,358,727
New York City Employees Retirement System 4,963,319 | $169,298,811
New York City Fire Pension Fund  871,607 | $29,730,515
New York City Police Pension Fund 1,222,183 | $47,384,034
Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System 20,100 | $633,753
Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (2008) 7,973,895 | $251,416,909
Ohio State Teachers Retirement System 8,033,964 | $274,038,512
Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System 834,000 | $28,454,000
Tennessee State Pension Trust Funds 3,212,775 | $109,587,755
Texas County and District Retirement System $38,100,000
Texas Employees Retirement System 2,875,400 | $124,964,884
Texas Teachers Retirement System $298,274,715
Utah Retirement Systems 1,286,050 | $53,589,704
Utah Retirement Systems 334,405 | $13,934,656
Virginia Retirement System 3,467,525 | $118,277,279
Richmond (Virginia) Retirement System 24,800 | $907,928
Source: http://livinglies.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/goldman-sachs-hit-with-more-subpoenas-on-abacus-deals/

And that’s not all folks!
(Keep checking back – as readers send me additional info I update and post)