The Great American Cockroach Check - Democratic Underground

IdesOfOctober

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Tue Oct-10-06 08:23 AM
Original message

The Great American Cockroach Check

Edited on Tue Oct-10-06 08:42 AM by IdesOfOctober

Is your current or former employer's pension plan infested with Cheney-sized cockroaches? Here's how to tell:

1. Look up the annual Form 5500 for your current and past employers' pension plans on FreeERISA, using their free search tool (free registration required): http://www.freeerisa.com/5500/Form5500.asp?mode=SEARCH

2. Remember that your company's plan may be under some variation of the corporate name. For example, IBM might be under the full, spelled-out name, instead of the acronym.

3. Once you have located your plan's latest Form 5500, note the Quicklinks at the top of the filing, which includes the "schedules" that your plan is required to file. If your plan shows a Schedule C, this will list out the fees paid to "service providers". Look for State Street, State Street Bank, SSB, State Street Global Advisors, and any variant of "State Street" or "CitiStreet". If your plan shows a Schedule P, this should also list the entity that serves as trustee of your plan.

Now, why would you care if State Street or CitiStreet is charging fees to your fellow plan participants / retirees drawing from their share of the plan?

Here are a few reasons to care:

1. State Street is currently fighting the Polaroid families who lost everything. Even though two Polaroid directors interlocked with State Street's board of directors, State Street waited until Polaroid stock was trading for a dime - and the retirees started to organize to have a say in the company's bankruptcy proceedings - to finally unload the plan shares. This is made all the more heinous by the fact that the Polaroiders had no choice but to buy the shares: they were forced to particpate in the leveraged ESOP: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=polaroid+esop+%22state+street%22. Some of the casefile materials in that case - including State Street's attempt to have the Polaroid plaintiffs' attorneys removed from the case (more on that in a moment) - are available here: http://www.erisafraud.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1085. More documents and information is available by using the search feature of: http://www.shareholdersonline.org, and by reading these SEC filings: http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=jorstad+p&CIK=&filenum=&State=&SIC=&owner=include&action=getcompany

2. State Street was handpicked by Elaine Chao (Secretary of Labor and wife of Senator Mitch McConnell) and Eugene Scalia (Solicitor of Labor and son of Antonin Scalia) to become the "special fiduciary" for the Enron employees' pension plans, after Kenny Boy Lay got caught. Now why would Chao and Scalia pull out all the stops to have State Street appointed as their chosen fiduciary? Remember the Enron commercials that asked: "Why? Why? Why?" Well, the answer is simple: Andy Card's high school pals are Ron Kaufman (the architect of the Willie Horton ads) and Ron Logue, Chairman and CEO of State Street. In fact, these three hooligans all hail from Holbrook, Massachusetts, where the plot is already under way to annoint Mitt Romney as the next GOPuppet. The Bushies were terrified in late 2001/early 2002 that the full extent of Kenny Boy Lay's misdeeds would get out, so State Street became the trusted BushCo. "fixer firm," to help identify would-be ringleaders among the Enron pensioners, and to keep them placated through November 02.

A. Enron/State Street link: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=enron+scalia+chao+%22state+street%22

B. State Street/Andy Card link: http://www.google.com/search?as_q=card+logue+rocky+times+high+school+holbrook&num=10&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=boston.com&as_rights=&safe=images

C. Andy Card and Ron Kaufman, brothers-in-law and co-conspirators: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=andy+card+%22ron+kaufman%22+sister

3. Ah, but the best laid plans of mice and men, right? In an attempt to stick it to its rival, Northern Trust of Chicago, Boston-based State Street told the Enron Employees' legal counsel, Keller Rohrback LLP, certain "dirty little secrets" of the private pension industry. Imagine the collective sense of panic at State Street, when Keller Rohrback showed up as the POLAROID Plaintiff's counsel in their class action. State Street tried to get Keller Rohrback thrown off the Polaroid case, on the basis that Keller Rohrback would now be able to use its newfound knowledge of these dirty tricks against State Street. The Federal Judge, The Honorable William H. Pauley, III, told State Street to get bent: http://www.erisafraud.com/Portals/7/documents/Polaroid_OrderDenyingMtnDisqualify020405.pdf. For a great deal more information, see: http://www.shareholdersonline.org/litigation.htm.

4. Other reasons to care?

A. State Street and the United Airlines pension lawsuit: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22state+street%22+united+airlines+pension

B. Lopresti suit against State Street/CitiStreet: http://www.google.com/search?q=citistreet+%22a+tale+of+two%22+lopresti&hl=en&lr=&filter=0

C. State Street's central role in the push to privatize Social Security: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22state+street%22+social+security+privatization

For more information, look at this prior thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2347614&mesg_id=2347614

To see how State Street has tried to silence David A. Smith, see the Draft Settlement Agreement: http://www.shareholdersonline.org/keydocs.htm

Ides of October

P.S. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention: State Street just celebrated a decade of "servicing" Dick Cheney: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=halliburton+%22state+street%22+decade