PHOENIX (AP) - Federal authorities are investigating a state retirement investment trust which has been accused of inflating the values of poor-performing real-estate holdings.
The FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona wouldn’t disclose the nature of the investigation and a trust spokeswoman Christa Severns said officials hadn’t been officially notified about the investigation.
However, individuals interviewed by investigators said the probe involves management and investments of a trust for state retirement plans for responders, judges and corrections officers, The Arizona Republic (https://bit.ly/19No8he) reported.
Levi Bolton, executive director of the Arizona Police Association, said he believes the investigation began after he requested a criminal probe last September into management of the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System.
Bolton, who said he’s been interviewed by the FBI, made his request after several employees complained that trust’s assets had been overvalued to inflate staff bonuses.
Court documents in a civil case filed by the PSPRS against former investment manager Anton Orlich to return numerous documents to the trust said the FBI confirmed to Orlich’s lawyer that Orlich wasn’t the “target or subject of the grand-jury investigation.”
The trust’s suit against Orlich alleged he improperly removed the records. Orlich’s lawyer, Lynne Adams, said Orlich had permission to take the records.
Orlich surrendered the records to the court as ordered, but his lawyer is now asking the judge to release the records so Orlich can comply with a federal subpoena to take the records with him when he appears before the grand jury.
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