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Administration January 5, 2009
Baltimore Pension Fund Loses $3.5M in Madoff Scheme
January 5, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The pension fund
for Baltimore police and fire employees lost about $3.5
million invested in a fund with ties to fallen money manager
Bernard L. Madoff.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
The Baltimore Sun reports the $1.5-billion pension
fund had about $73 million under management with New
York-based UBP Asset Management, which invested about 5%
of that money with Madoff, according to pension board
Chairman Stephen G. Fugate. Fugate told the Sun the
pension board learned about its Madoff exposure on
December 16 and cut ties with UBP immediately.
The board anticipates dissolving its relationship with
UBP by March and will likely join a lawsuit already filed
by another Madoff victim, Fugate said, according to the
newspaper.
In December, the law firm of Keller Rohrback LLP announced it is “…investigating the legal options of retirement savings and pension plans that have been affected by the long-running Ponzi scheme at Bernard Madoff Investment Securities.” (see ERISA Litigator Seeks Plan Fiduciaries )
The $50-billion Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Madoff has affected other public funds (see CT Town Pension Claims $42M Madoff Fund Loss ), as well as corporate defined contribution plans, and non-profit foundations (see List of Retirement Plan Victims of Madoff Scheme Grows ). The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is weeding through the list of assets provided by Madoff to determine affected investors.