The Securities and Exchange is collaborating more with other law enforcement agencies to find pay-to-play cases in the awarding of money manager and other contracts by public pension funds, Andrew Ceresney, enforcement director, told a Washington enforcement conference on Thursday.
“We have been increasing our parallel coordination with specialized public corruption and public integrity units within U.S. attorneys’ offices and with the FBI. Our sense is that, where public officials are engaging in public corruption in other contexts — say, in hiring practices or awarding construction contracts — we may also find there is corruption in the awarding of underwriting business or investment advisory contracts for public pension funds. I can’t say today what those efforts will yield, but we are doing all we can to shine light in this opaque area,” Mr. Ceresney promised.
