County Officials Discuss Recovering Lost Pension Funds in Secret Meeting
Officials ask the Baltimore County Council to hire an outside attorney for a lawsuit involving subprime mortgages.
Baltimore County pension officials are privately scrambling to meet a deadline to file a lawsuit in an attempt to recover tens of millions of dollars in county pension funds.
County Budget Director Keith Dorsey and County Attorney Michael Field met with Council members Vicki Almond, Cathy Bevins, David Marks and Ken Oliver and members of the county auditor’s office late Monday prior to the council’s voting session. The subject of the meeting was the approval of a contract to hire an outside attorney to pursue a lawsuit against Merrill Lynch, multiple sources tell Patch, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the meeting publicly.
Almond confirmed the meeting, but said the discussion was confidential.
“This will all be discussed at a future date,” Almond said.
Oliver, reached by phone Tuesday, declined comment.
“I won’t comment on it,” said Oliver.
Marks also declined comment.
“The discussions were confidential,” said Marks.
Bevins did not return calls seeking comment.
At issue was a $21 million investment made nearly five years ago by a county employee in a fund invested primarily in subprime mortgages. The fund, called Mainsail II LLC, collapsed when the economy tanked and the housing bubble burst.
The outside attorney, who would work on a contingency fee basis, would file a lawsuit similar to that filed by Kings County, WA, in July 2010. The law firm would be paid more than 33 percent plus expenses, if the county wins its case, sources said.
Don Mohler, a spokesman and chief of staff to County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, acknowledged the meeting, but declined to answers questions about the subject.
"Mike Field had a confidential, closed, attorney-client briefing with the council about possible legal action that may or may not come before the council in the next couple of weeks," said Mohler.
Tom Hope
4:50 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The plot thickens....... I'm sure this had nothing to do with the allegations from yesterday.
Hmmmmm
Joan Wood
5:02 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Nah.........why would that have an impact? I'm sure it's just a "coincidence"
and it makes me wonder who the County Employee was that was authorized to make a $21 million investment.........had to be someone high up with that much authority.........WOW..........the plot thickens is right!
Buzz Beeler
5:21 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
LA Confidential or is it BC Confidential. Either way all of the elements are there.
I would guess that with all of the available attorneys tied up defending the county in various investigations involving the "Office of Fred," a little outside help is warranted.
We're not talking about lunch money and if their not careful the period will be over.
Ron Burgundy
9:25 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Let me see if I understand your comment, am I to understand you don't want the county to pursue these funds? If you had a god-forbid heart attack do you want a podiatrist to look after you? If our Baltimore County officials don't feel as if they have the competent person in house to handle, and why would we, then doesn't it make sense to hire the best person available? What is wrong with you, why does everything have to be a conspiracy. Please , stay off Rush and Hannity and Savage etc. and get a life. Every once in a while have an open mind and think , maybe the County is doing the right thing. You are really becoming boring and predicatable. Stop the madness!
Nanya_b
6:46 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
33% of $21 million? $7 million to an outside attorney...if they win.
Will this contract be 'wired'?
lemmy winks
9:26 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
I sure hope the council does not lose its resolve; now is the time to summon Mr. Homan to a meeting and have him explain this mess. And why on earth did the county wait 5 years before trying to recover this money!!??
Buzz Beeler
9:43 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Ron, I was being facetious. If I have to go into detail about the meaning of the word and its relationship to my comment then no matter what I wrote you would not understand it.
If they didn't lose it they would not have to pursue it. I do agree with your comment of - "Stop the madness!", but that would include something that no one has the courage to do and that would be fire Mr. Homan. At what point do you decide to cut your loses and move on?
Lemmy, the feds have been breathing down their neck for years over some ADA issues and that hasn't budged them. Remember your dealing with the "Office of Fred."
johnny towson
9:58 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
While on the topic of $21 million and bad-housing investments, how about pursuing Kevin's Yorkway deal that fleeced the County taxpayers for the same amount.
George Krach
11:57 am on Friday, April 20, 2012
Good point Johnny, Baltimore County buy's the property for 20+/- milion dollars and sells it to Mr. Vontran for 5+/- million dollars. A net lose of 15 +/- million dollars to the county and it's still not completed. Who's looking into that sweet deal?
FactChecker
11:06 pm on Friday, April 20, 2012
The sale of the Yorkway property was a sealed public bid. The Executive at the time was Jim Smith.
Buzz Beeler
10:26 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Johnny, as long as I live, I'll never understand that deal. There is not one portion of that PUD that made sense. At the time Moxley was the only one to vote against it. I've still got Bryan's articles on that story along with the Post, Examiner, City Paper, and The Eagle just to name a few.
I dare anyone on this site to challenge me on that one. In fact I double dare. Watch, you won't hear a peep.
JDStuts
10:31 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Having been involved in this type of transaction before permit me the "these affairs are very complicated" tripe.
There are only a very limited number of angles to pursue in these instances that have legal validity. They mainly revolve around due diligence which is very tricky since the crux of the accusation is that the parties knowingly misrepresented information.
That said, what the county may be facing is the same issue California did which wasn't the municipalities fund manager misrepresented the risks, but that the state's contracting authority failed to properly vet the fiduciary agent. If Baltimore County failed in its task then it takes a real litigating cowboy to try to recover.
Closed doors seems right for now but any council person coming upon the arrangement should end up clamoring for open reviews tout sweet to avoid the stench of impropriety.
This has political disaster written all over it. If I was being paid, I'd throw a blanket over the whole affair based on compete clauses, bond sales, non-disclosure agreements, everything and the kitchen sink. If I was a local pol, I'd make a national rep by asking the SEC to step in.
Bart
6:46 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Re: A post today, 5:40 a.m. by aowokmoy:
So much for "Pending Approval" PORN ON PATCH!!! Priceless.
Buck Harmon
8:33 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Pending Approval sounds socialist to me anyway....whatever Patch did last go round screwed up the email notification as well...just says .." no reply, new comment" for each post that I follow and then I get an email from Patch telling me that my comment has been posted....about as useless as tits on a boar hog..
Bart
8:45 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
...and it's STILL there! Ha Ha!
Bart
9:05 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Yet, a comment I made over an hour ago is still "Pending Approval". Who's steering this ship?
Bryan P. Sears
9:40 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Sorry Bart, everyone. I'm not getting email notifications any more when you're posting and I only saw the spam just now. The offending post was removed and I'm asking for the user account to be suspended.
Ron Burgundy
6:39 pm on Saturday, April 21, 2012
Bryan, will you please ask the 4 Councilpeople whether they had committed to the pension bill and then suddenly changed their vote.They're crying foul and I think and "on the record" comment from you may just open some eyes.
Paul Amirault
9:33 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
Bryan, the software "upgrade" that was implemented a few weeks ago by the Patch is exactly what happens when someone attempts to,reinvent the wheel, it is no longer round.
Buzz Beeler
7:18 pm on Saturday, April 21, 2012
Bryan the integrity of this site is important and it must be defended. Good move. Once they learn a little respect and those issues will not be tolerated they'll move on.
Sapphire Rhose
8:36 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
Ronnie give it a rest. It was the right vote, it's unrealistic for Mr. Kamenentz to expect to win everytime. Nobody seems to care if there was a commitment to a certain vote by certain council members. If they did change their minds perhaps it was because they had all the facts and they realized it was not a good bill. It's nice to see that these folks actually have spines, you should try finding yours.
Ron Burgundy
10:19 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
Sapphire, you miss the entire point. Forget this bill, take any issue, when you commit to vote a certain way then back out speaks more about the Councilpeople, and their silence on the matter is deafening. Your so quick to condemn this Executive, why, you can't see the issue at hand? If your Councilman made a commitment to a community then totally changed their mind would you sit idly by? I believe someones word stands for something. Does yours?
Buzz Beeler
9:48 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
Paul, good observation. I miss getting the email updates.
Paul Amirault
10:15 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
Buzz, thanks. I tink it has something to do with those who are registered bloggers. I now use two sign-ins, one for blogging and the other for posting. Silly workaround. Two separate email addresses too.
Paul Amirault
10:16 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
Silly typo, tink is think.
Buck Harmon
10:18 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
The big question regarding Patch "upgrade failure" is ..will they realize the screw up and promptly make it right again..?
Buck Harmon
10:21 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
Talk to us Tyler..whats the new game about?
thewarnock
6:35 pm on Friday, May 11, 2012
Wthy would you have to hire an outside attorney to do this. Are the attorneys that work for the county admitting that they are too incompetent to do the job that the outside attorney would do. Or are the county paid staff attorneys too chummy with the repreresentatives at Merrill Lynch, and not want to to upset their drinking and golf buddies.