A former board member of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System denied state allegations that he improperly provided gifts and gratuities to pension fund officials in wooing their business on behalf of investment firms.
Alfred R. Villalobos, who made more than $47 million as the go-between in billions of dollars’ worth of transactions, also criticized state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown’s tactics in bringing the civil fraud lawsuit.
Villalobos predicted that he, his firm and business associate Federico Buenrostro Jr., a former CalPERS chief executive also sued by the state, would be “completely vindicated.”
Villalobos, Buenrostro and Arvco are accused of engaging in fraud by lavishing pension fund officials with expensive gifts to influence their investment decisions.
• Read the full Los Angeles Times story.
