Who Stole My Pension? How You Can Stop the Looting
This is the book that kickstarted our grassroots campaign to restore our retirement benefits.
Before 2012, Ohio law required a permanent, annual 3% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for retired teachers in the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.
In 2012, after passage of pension reform laws, there was a reduction of the ongoing and repeating COLA for retired teachers from 3% to 2%.
(A) Except as provided in divisions (D) and (E) of this section, the state teachers retirement board shall annually increase each allowance or benefit payable under the STRS defined benefit plan. Through July 31, 2013, the increase shall be three per cent. On and after August 1, 2013, the increase shall be two per cent. (ORC 3307.67 Cost of Living Increase)
In April 2017, the STRS Ohio board voted to reduce the COLA from 2% to 0%.
Teachers began organizing online in the STRS Ohio Member Only Forum, a Facebook group started by retired public school administrator, Joe Lupo, where they discussed and shared information about the loss of their COLA, increased years of service required for active teachers, and other issues related to the reduction in their retirement benefits.
Who Stole My Pension was published in 2020. After reading the book, retired Ohio teacher Tom Bressi contacted the Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association to suggest that ORTA hire Edward "Te Siedle to perform a forensic audit of STRS Ohio.
"I was searching for more information on how to do a ‘crowdfunded’ forensic audit. I came across Edward ‘Ted’ Siedle’s contact information (author of Who Stole My Pension) and gave him a call in Florida. I was surprised that Ted himself answered the phone. We had a twenty minute conversation. We talked about his book, public pensions in Ohio, and how to do a crowdfunded forensic audit. You do not need STRS’s consent, or any politician’s or institutional permission to perform one. The result is about a 100 page credible report by an expert, that can be given to the legislature, law enforcement, regulators, Attorney General, media or FBI.
The cost to do one on STRS would be roughly $75,000 for an initial investigation. He did two follow-ups in Rhode Island (there cost was $20,000 per investigation). He found hedge fund and real estate gambling, and after years of half billion dollar losses the State pension dumped its hedge funds (Who Stole My Pension, p.256)
Ted gave me a return call this morning and we talked for another twenty minutes. He described how Rhode Island was getting fleeced by the same bad real estate investments for the past 30 years. He said pensions cut COLAs to get to a certain funding goal which they never get to. Properly managed COLAs never had to be cut in the first place. You can read about Rhode Island in his book or google the story on line.
I posted a summary of the phone conversations and made it an informal survey to test the support for such an audit on the MOF. I saw from the survey that Dean Dennis was in support of the Siedle audit. Subsequently, I had a phone conversation with Dean, and he suggested it might be safer to crowd fund the audit through ORTA. The rest is history." - Tom Bressi
In 2020, the Ohio Retired Teachers Association (ORTA) commissioned Siedle to conduct an independent forensic audit of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS Ohio).
The audit was largely crowdfunded by retired and active Ohio teachers who raised $75,000 to investigate the pension system following the elimination of their cost of living adjustments (COLAs) and a growing lack of financial transparency.
In June 2021, Siedle released a 128-page report titled The High Cost of Secrecy.
Siedle's primary findings included:
Hidden Wall Street Fees: The report revealed that while STRS Ohio publicly reported $279 million in fees, the actual unmonitored fees paid to Wall Street alternative investment managers exceeded $463.6 million annually.
Massive Underperformance: Underperforming alternative investments lost $8.6 billion over a 14-year period.
Elimination of Benefits: While teachers' retirement requirements and contributions were raised and COLAs were cut to save $210 million annually, the pension's internal investment staff still received nearly $10 million in performance bonuses.
Ongoing Impact of The High Cost of Secrecy:
State Auditor Review: The findings from The High Cost of Secrecy report provided the "reasonable basis" for Ohio State Auditor Keith Faber to launch a year-long special investigation into STRS Ohio, which concluded in late 2022 by demanding greater transparency from the pension. Click here to read the key findings of Faber's investigation.
Public Records Lawsuit: During the audit, STRS Ohio refused to hand over investment documents requested by Siedle. Represented by former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, Siedle and ORTA filed a public records lawsuit.
Court Directives: The legal battle stretched on for several years, culminating in a writ of mandamus issued by the court ordering STRS Ohio to comply and release the hidden investment manager documents to Siedle.
Ted Siedle continues to write about STRS Ohio in Pension Warriors, on Substack.
"Pension Warriors focuses on providing forensic insights to subscribers about pension and retirement plan abuses. Our goal is to explain mismanagement and wrongdoing in a manner that is both understandable and actionable. We don’t want to scare you—we want to prepare you to fight to protect your retirement security, i.e., to ensure that promises made are indeed kept." - Ted Siedle
After reading Who Stole My Pension, do not hesitate to contact Ted Siedle with you questions and comments. He continues to support Ohio's teachers and the restoration of our retirement benefits.
