Friday, May 25, 2012

Leon Black among ten cited for corruption of Dartmouth College Endowment, wrecking California wasn't enough for Mr. Black and Apollo

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5/24/12, "Corruption Charges Leveled at Dartmouth College Trustees," American Thinker, George W. Ford

"The Trustees of Dartmouth College have been accused of corruption by a whistle-blower group of college insiders. The charge is a failure to supervise themselves and the endowment investment committee while they have taken close to $100 million in endowment manager fees. These alums are accused of making donations to the College in exchange for $600 million in business for the financial companies they run. And they are charged with directing $1 billion in endowment funds to their business friends, including to other school endowments on whose boards they sit....

Ten individuals are cited, along with the specifics of their money deals, including Leon Black, head of one of the best known buy-out shops, Apollo Management. Nine of the alums have taken an average of $9.7 million in fees, while the tenth is an investment "finder" and chair of the Dartmouth Investment Committee who directed endowment funds to Black and others....

Now we have allegations of corruption added to the mix. This may no longer be about the inappropriateness of volatile investments. Those entrusted to direct the endowment's policy are accused of paying themselves or their firms with the funds they are administering. The Tellus Institute made this general accusation of Dartmouth two years ago, but now we have it in chapter and verse."...

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The above mentioned Leon Black and Apollo pulled a similar act on the state of California. Black and Apollo make Bain Capital look like Mother Theresa: "
Apollo chairman Leon Black, a major money manager for Calpers"...

10/16/2009, "
CalPERS Rocked by Pay to Play Scandal," RedState.com, private citizen

"Al Villalobos, the chairman of the Nevada firm Arvco, is under investigation for taking $50 million in fees arranging investments for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, of which he is a former board member.

"America’s largest public-pension fund, Calpers, revealed that a former board member had reaped more than $50 million in fees for arranging investments that could saddle state taxpayers with hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

The disclosure deepens concerns that alleged conflicts of interest are undermining state retirement funds.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System said it is launching a “special review” into payments by money managersincluding billionaire Leon Black’s Apollo Management LP — to firms including Arvco Financial Ventures LLC. Arvco is headed by Al Villalobos, who served on Calpers’s board from 1993 to 1995."

Calpers has lost more than $50 billion from bad investments, putting the state of California on the brink of bankruptcy....

Apollo chairman Leon Black, a major money manager for Calpers who arranged the deal for Arvco, made a total of nearly $100,000 in political contributions in 2008 to Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Max Baucus, Jay Rockefeller, John Kerry, Dick Durbin, Carl Levin, Mark Pryor, Jack Reed, Tim Johnson, Frank Lautenberg, Tom Harkin, the DSCC, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, and the NRSC.

CalPERS and Arvco have invested heavily in the ‘clean tech’ sector, with a focus on emerging markets such as India....

The California pension funds are looking to expand ‘clean tech’ investments into China and Brazil as well....

Former California State Treasurer, Phil Angelides, launched a ‘Green Wave’ agenda which steered billions from CalPERS into environmentally-based investments....

Angelides is now the chairman of the board for Apollo Alliance, a coalition of labor and environmental groups. They have reportedly been involved in steering the president’s agenda including bailouts, stimulus, cash for clunkers, and taxes on energy and insurance."

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"Apollo Alliance is a project of the Tides Center," Muckety

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From SourceWatch: "The Apollo Alliance is a group of U.S. business, labor, environmental, and community leaders working to promote clean energy as a means of creating energy independence, reducing carbon emissions, and generating new jobs for and opportunities for American workers and businesses.[1] The group was founded by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy and the Institute for America's Future in 2004.[2] Chaired by former California State Treasurer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides, the Board includes the


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