Prosecutors Charge NY Pension Fund Employee In Sex And Drugs Pay-To-Play Scheme

Forbes reports:

A former portfolio manager for the nation's third largest pension fund was charged by U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday for engaging in a pay-to-play scheme fueled by sex and drugs.

Navnoor Kang, who used to manage $53 billion as director of fixed income at the New York State Common Retirement Fund, allegedly received bribes for steering more than $2 billion in fixed income business to two broker-dealers.

Those bribes included "entertainment, travel, lavish meals, prostitutes, nightclub bottle service, narcotics, luxury gifts, and cash, payments," according to the indictment, which was filed in federal court in Manhattan.

The broker-dealers, Deborah Kelley and Gregg Schonhorn, were also charged alongside Kang for executing fixed income trades on behalf of the pension fund. Each earned millions in dollars in commissions for doing so, according to the indictment.

This is the latest pay-to-pay scheme to rock the New York pension fund, which manages some $184 billion for more than one million retirees and other beneficiaries. In 2007, state comptroller Alan Hevesi was embroiled in a bribery scheme to steer the pension fund into certain investments. He later pleaded guilty and the state enacted measures to avoid a repeat of the drama.

What New York government working are paying for ....