Shame on us.
In the Oct. 27 issue of Pensions & Investments, we identified about two dozen up-and-coming money management firms. The firms were selected based on their age (five years or younger) and their three-year alpha.
One criterion we should have included: whether anyone at the firm was under indictment.
Granite Investment Advisors, Portland, Ore., was one of the up-and-coming managers. Since the story was published, P&I has learned that Dean Kirkland, Granite's president, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Sept. 8. Mr. Kirkland allegedly offered illegal gifts and gratuities to union pension trustees while a marketer at Capital Consultants LLC, also in Portland.
The P&I story on Granite prominently mentioned that Granite was formed by Capital's investment team in 2000 after Jeffrey Grayson, Capital Consultants' chief executive officer, was indicted for fraud and Capital was closed.
The story did not, however, mention Mr. Kirkland's Sept. 8 indictment, which, according to the Portland Oregonian, was his second. In July, a U.S. District Court judge in Portland dismissed most of an earlier indictment against Mr. Kirkland, but left standing wire fraud and obstruction of justice charges, according to the newspaper. His trial on those charges is scheduled to begin Nov. 14, the newspaper reported.
