CalPERS officials may face fines over gifts

Fourteen officials of the $227 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System could be fined thousands of dollars for not properly reporting gifts received from investment firms. An additional 15 officials were sent warning letters and are not facing fines.

The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), California’s watchdog, proposed the fines, which will be considered by the full commission 22 September, according to an agenda posted on the FPPC website.

The commission said 12 September that most of the proposed fines were for not disclosing gifts including free meals, bottles of wine, clothing, and tickets for concerts and sporting events.

Among the 14 officials are CalPERS board president Rob Feckner and board member Louis Moret who each faces a proposed $400 fine for not reporting gifts of meals and drinks. The largest fine, of $3,600, was proposed for Shaun Greenwood for failing to disclose more than 30 gifts.

Investment officer Omid Rezania was fined $2,400 for failing to disclose 12 gifts of meals and drinks and Michael Dutton, a portfolio manager, was fined $2,200 for not disclosing gifts of meals and tickets to sporting events.

A CalPERS spokesperson said the pension system cooperated with the commission's inquiry. “We have strengthened our reporting policies and increased training to all staff required to ensure our complete compliance in the future,” said a CalPERS spokesman in a statement.

State government employees that receive gifts worth more than $50 from a single source in a year must report all those gifts. The maximum total value of gifts allowed in a year from a single source is $420.

This isn’t the pension fund’s first investigation.

In 2009, the FPPC conducted a separate investigation into former pension board member Charles Valdes for accepting a $38,600 contribution from ARVCO Capital Research, a placement firm chaired by former CalPERS board member Alfred Villalobos, for a 2005 re-election campaign. Valdes later that year agreed to pay $12,500 in relation to the violation.