Ex-Intrepid Museum Chief to Pay $1 Million in Cuomo's Pension Probe

(September 16, 2010) — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has announced a $1 million settlement in a pay-to-play scandal at the state pension fund, valued at about $124.8 billion.

The deal is with Bill White, the former president of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum and the once fundraiser for the  former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who oversaw the pension. Cuomo has reportedly accused White of brokering investments from the New York State Common Retirement Fund on behalf of firms that paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees. According to the settlement, White will pay the state $1 million and will abide by Cuomo’s code of conduct in future deals, ending the probe of his role in the attorney general’s state pension fund investigation.

“The state pension fund, which should be safeguarded for taxpayers, was instead served up to fixers, finders, and fundraisers like Bill White, who used his access to fill his pockets,” Cuomo said at a news conference in New York, according to the AP. “Unlicensed placement agents, secret fees, and even the appearance of pay-to-play erode taxpayers’ trust and pose an intolerable risk to our pensioners’ retirement funds. New York’s pension system is fraught with systemic problems that we can no longer afford to ignore.”

Between 2003 and 2006, White received nearly $3 million in fees associated with investments by the state pension, while it was headed by former New York state comptroller Alan Hevesi, for whom White helped raise campaign money. Last year, Cuomo issued a subpoena on White and other middlemen who helped arrange pension deals for fees during former Controller Hevesi’s tarnished four-year term.

More than a dozen companies have also settled with Cuomo, agreeing to pay fines and adopt a new code of conduct that the attorney general was championing. So far, Cuomo’s investigation has returned $138 million to the public workers pension fund and the state.