For over 3 years, the Ohio Pension has fought hard to keep its dealings with Wall Street hidden from public scrutiny.
By Edward Siedle July 27, 2024
In 2021, I was retained by the Ohio Retired Teachers Assocation to conduct a forensic investigation of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio—the pension system ORTA’s members rely upon for their retirement security. In connection with my investigation, on February 19, 2021, I filed a request pursuant to Ohio law for an opportunity to inspect or obtain copies of public records related to the pension’s investment managers, investment consultants, performance compliance auditor, investment cost monitor, financial auditor, and custodians, as well as board and staff.
The overwhelming majority of the most critical disclosure information I requested was summarily denied.
Over 3 years ago, my journey to inspect the pension’s records began.
Just yesterday the magistrate assigned the case found "Siedle has established a clear legal right to the production of public records sought in the first investment managers request and the first Panda Investments request. STRS was under a clear legal duty to comply with these public records requests. Accordingly, it is the decision and recommendation of the magistrate that this court issue a writ of mandamus ordering STRS to comply with Siedle's first investment managers request in the February 19, 2021 letter."
Now that the magistrate has confirmed that I (and the public) has a “clear legal right” to the pension investment contracts, I trust that STRS Ohio will comply with its “clear legal duty” to provide them. The time has come for its members and taxpayers to see what the pension has been hiding for so many years.
I look forward to learning the secrets STRS Ohio has fought so hard for so long to keep from the public.
