The Minnesota Teachers Retirement Association (TRA) pension program faces an independent forensic audit over suspicions that its investment board, led by Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), may be cooking the books to hide the extent of investment fees paid to Wall Street fund managers. Compounding matters, communications between state pension officials and a national trade association suggest a concerted effort to discredit the forensic audit and pension forensics expert Edward “Ted” Siedle.
According to Siedle, the Minnesota teacher pension fund appears to be seriously underreporting investment fees. This concern resulted in a group of Minnesota teachers crowdfunding to hire Siedle to conduct an independent forensic audit of the pension fund and state investment plans.
“A cursory look at the Minnesota Teachers Retirement Association leads to the conclusion they’re either a world class pension or they’re cooking the books,” the pension forensics expert stated in late July. “Minnesota reported investment fees on the $26.7 billion teacher pension fund of $24.1 million. The teachers fund has a $6.6 billion private equity portfolio that would be expected to pay at least $132 million a year to fund managers.”
However, even before Siedle officially began his audit in April, Minnesota bureaucrats were actively working to discredit the investigation, according to communications reviewed by The National Pulse. Additionally, the series of emails and text messages obtained by Siedle reveal staff with the TRA coordinated with the National Council on Teachers Retirement (NCTR)–a trade association for state teacher pension programs—to distribute “opposition research” against the pension expert.
In a March 11, 2024, email with the subject ‘An Important Matter,’ TRA executive director Jay Stoffel alerted Gov. Walz and other officials regarding the independent audit effort. Stoffel described it as posing “many serious risks to the agency and pension fund,” adding the situation is one they “should be aware of and concerned about.”
The communications between TRA staff, Gov. Walz‘s office, and the NCTR raise serious questions about why an independent audit would raise such an alarm.
