Jax Pension Consultant Fights Madoff Accusations

Abel Harding

The consultant hired in early 2008 by the Jacksonville City Employees Retirement System to serve as the general investment consultant to the $1.3 billion pension program has struggled to overcome charges that it was linked to disgraced financier Bernie Maddoff.  Summit Strategies Group, who also serves as the general consultant for the Jacksonville Police & Fire Pension Fund, released a statement in late April from the company's president that sought to fight what the company referred to as "media attempts" to link the company with Bernie Maddoff.

According to the statement, Summit makes the case that the only exposure their company had to Madoff-run investments were through two fund vehicles, UBPAM and Silver Creek.  Summit goes on to tout the news that their clients were exposed to no more than 15 basis points---or $18 million---in losses from Madoff-related investments.

Summit previously faced an SEC investigation as part of an unprecedented federal probe into the pension consulting business.  This probe, which focused on the possibility of a "pay to play" scheme between consultants and money managers concluded in June 2005.  At the time, the SEC said they did not detect any federal rules violations or deficiencies at the company.

Tags: Bernie Madoff, Jacksonville City Employees Retirement System, Jacksonville Police Fire Pension Fund, SEC, Summit Strategies

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 8:29 AM and is filed under Local Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.