Connecticut Treasurer Denise L. Nappier announced an agreement with Pioneer Venture Associates that severed the state pension fund's ties with the private equity firm two years before the contract signed by her predecessor, Paul Silvester, was set to expire. The agreement was the final step in six years of effort to limit the damage done by the $75 million commitment to Pioneer that Mr. Silvester made in 1998, Ms. Nappier said in a news release.
Connecticut appears to have lost slightly less than $25 million. "We prevented substantial additional losses and recovered significant assets, and now we will no longer have any association with Pioneer," Ms. Nappier said.
Mr. Silvester was sentenced to 51 months in prison in November 2003 after being convicted ofracketeering and money laundering.
Calls to Harrington, Ocko & Monk, a law firm that lists Pioneer Venture Associates as a client, weren't immediately returned.