DealZone

Steven Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s auto task force, has surfaced in the investigation of a kickback scheme at New York state’s pension fund.

In March, Henry Morris, who was the fund-raiser for former comptroller Alan Hevesi, and David Loglisci, who was the state pension fund’s top investment officer, were charged with securities fraud, bribery, money laundering and other crimes in a 123-count indictment.

NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo charged that Loglisci accepted sham “investments” for the production by his brother of a low-budget movie, “Chooch.” And for your viewing pleasure, peHUB’s Erin Griffith has tracked down the film’s trailer.

The film review site RottenTomatoes.com called it “an absolute chore to sit through.” You be the judge:

Dan Primack is the editor of peHUB, a Thomson Reuters publication.

The New York State Pension Fund kickback scandal is making new headlines. The Wall Street Journal reported that Steven Rattner, the head of the Obama administratino’s auto task force, was one of the executives involved with payments that are under scrutiny, citing a person familiar with the matter.

On Thursday, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a criminal complaint against Raymond Harding, former chair of New York’s Liberal Party, for scheming with the already-indicted David Loglisci and Hank Morris. Cuomo also coaxed a guilty plea and financial remuneration out of Barrett Wissman, a crooked former hedge fund manager.

All of this got me to thinking more about the issue of raising fund capital from public pension systems, a process that often is just begging to be corrupted. Inexperienced and smaller general partners (GPs) can have real difficulty getting in front of a pension system’s investment staff, because there is rarely a transparent or streamlined process.