Lack of transparency at our nation’s public pensions makes scamming easier than crypto fraud.
Lack of transparency at our nation’s public pensions makes scamming easier than cryptocurrency fraud.
Public pension funds or cryptocurrency, what’s the bigger scam? The surprising answer is pension funds, according to Anessa Santos, a Florida attorney and Special Magistrate who specializes in blockchain and fintech, and the reason why has everything to do with transparency, she says.
Long heralded as providing retirement security for America’s workers, pension plans seemingly promise employees that if they contribute a portion of their income to the plan today, they are guaranteed continued income through retirement. According to Public Plans Data, the 2020 U.S. Census reported we have roughly 6,000 public sector retirement systems that collectively hold $4.5 trillion in assets for 25.9 million government workers and retirees, and that distribute $323 billion annually. This is a massive pot of money notorious for attracting the wolves of Wall Street, including fund managers and financial advisors who exploit regulatory gaps and vulnerabilities in plan administration to enrich themselves at the expense of pensioners.
Public pensions, unlike corporate plans, are not subject to the ERISA—the federal law protecting pensions—or any other comparable comprehensive state regulatory scheme. As a result, Wall Street considers public pensions “the dumbest investors…
