Teacher, Firefighter, Police and Other Retirement Funds Flow Into Sanctioned Russian Companies
President Trump’s executive order over election meddling won’t stop the river of cash running from the United States to Kremlin-connected coffers
By SETH HETTENA SEPTEMBER 13, 2018 1:50PM ET
For years, a river of American wealth has flowed into Russia — money from virtually every corner of the U.S. financial world. Public pensions, hedge funds, banks, insurers, university endowments, mutual funds and wealthy investors have collectively showered billions of dollars on Vladimir Putin’s regime and supported companies closely connected to it.
Teachers, firefighters, police officers and state employees from New York to California might be surprised to learn that their retirement dollars are invested in shares of sanctioned Russian companies.
The nation’s two biggest public pension funds — the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) — together hold stock in sanctioned Russian companies worth nearly $715 million, according to their most recent annual filings. These include Gazprom, the Russian gas giant that has functioned as a bottomless expense account for Moscow and Rosneft, which acts as a foreign policy arm of the Russian state.
California isn’t alone. The state of Florida’s public pension fund has invested $160 million in sanctioned Russian companies, including a handful of holdings on the state’s own list of “scrutinized companies,” because of their ties to Iran, according to Politico. The New York State Common Retirement Fund, the nation’s No. 3 public pension fund, holds nearly $30 million worth of shares in sanctioned Russian firms.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/teacher-pensions-russia-723852/
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