Shoaib Khan Appointed as CIO and Permanent Director of New Jersey’s Division of Investments

New Jersey’s Division of Investments has appointed Shoaib Khan as its permanent director and CIO. This comes one year after its past CIO, Corey Amon, resigned upon receiving an offer to be CIO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

Khan will be in charge of managing the state’s $95.7 billion pension portfolio. He has been serving as the fund’s acting director and CIO since June 2021; prior to that, he was the fund’s deputy director and deputy CIO.

“Shoaib has been instrumental in managing the overall operations of our division of investment,” said Elizabeth Maher Muoio, the state treasurer of New Jersey, on Friday. “His experience as deputy director and acting director will serve him well as he leads the division in a permanent capacity.”

Khan brings with him experience as a senior portfolio manager at the State Board of Administration of Florida and as a portfolio manager at Axlewood Asset Management. He also spent time as the global head of portfolio management and senior managing director at Union Bancaire Privée and as vice president and strategy head at JPMorgan Chase.

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Khan is the first CIO to be hired since the state of New Jersey lifted its salary cap for CIOs. Previously, the salaries were capped at $200,000. Khan’s salary is now determined by the state treasurer.

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Tags: Corey Amon, New Jersey, New Jersey Division of Investment, Public Pension, Shoaib Khan

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed fraud charges against an Orlando-based firm, as well as its CEO and its president, for allegedly scamming people with disabilities into believing they were investing in a pooled trust managed by a nonprofit association, when in fact those funds were going to a for-profit business.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Synergy Settlement Services, Inc., CEO Jason Lazarus and President Anthony Prieto, Jr. formed the Foundation for Those with Special Needs, Inc. as a nonprofit purportedly to “assist personal injury victims with special needs.” However, the SEC alleges that the foundation is a shell corporation with no operations and no employees, and also names as a defendant the Special Needs Law Firm.

The complaint alleges that Lazarus and Prieto used funds from deceased beneficiaries’ accounts to reimburse themselves for employee salaries and other expenses, as well as to make donations to trial lawyers’ and other organizations. This “violated their representations to the IRS and beneficiaries that they would only use such funds to further the trusts’ mission to help the disabled,” says the complaint.

The SEC also alleges that the defendants concealed from the beneficiaries, the IRS and the Social Security Administration that they diverted at least $775,000 in trustee and joinder fees directly from the beneficiaries’ accounts to Synergy, their for-profit business. The regulator alleges that the defendants used funds from deceased beneficiaries’ accounts to reimburse themselves, sponsor events and parties and promote Synergy. Synergy, Lazarus and Prieto allegedly failed to tell beneficiaries they were investing in a class of mutual fund that doubled the fees the beneficiaries were told they were paying.

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“We allege that Synergy Settlement Services and its executives took advantage of vulnerable victims with special needs, making unethical and illegal profits off of them,” says Eric Bustillo, director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office. “The alleged greed Synergy and its executives displayed, treating themselves and clients to golf tournaments and beach parties using a sham nonprofit company, betrayed the trust of their victims.”

The SEC has charged Synergy, the Foundation, Lazarus, Prieto and the Special Needs Law Firm with violating the antifraud provisions of federal securities laws. The SEC’s complaint also charges Synergy, Lazarus and Prieto with violating the registration provisions of federal securities laws. The regulator is seeking permanent injunctions and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, plus prejudgment interest against all defendants and civil financial penalties against all defendants except the Foundation.

The SEC also charged San Francisco-based registered investment adviser True Link Financial Advisors, which was founded by Synergy, and its CEO Kai Stinchcombe in their role as investment and asset manager for the pooled trusts. True Link and Stinchcombe agreed to settle their case in a separate cease-and-desist proceeding without admitting or denying that they caused certain violations of federal securities laws.