Mixed Results in NYC Comptroller's Pension Report

New York, NY —

The New York State Comptroller has released performance data on 12 investment funds under investigation by state and federal regulators. Those funds manage public pension money. WNYC's Lisa Chow reports.

REPORTER: When news broke last spring of an alleged pay-to-play scheme at the New York State pension fund, the big question was, did the alleged corruption cause losses to the fund? Even with this disclosure, it's hard to say. The market's down, overall, and this tax supported money is invested in privately held companies whose values are hard to determine.

But here's what the performance data does show. Five of the 12 investments have lost money so far. Paladin Capital Group is managing the worst performing investment. The Paladin investment was part of the state pension fund's program to commit money specifically to New York State businesses.

The best performing is being managed by the Carlyle Group and Riverstone, which in the last six years has turned $160 million into $270 million for the pension fund. These two firms have already settled in the pay-to-play investigation. For WNYC, I'm Lisa Chow.