Even after getting fired when his presence roused controversy, former CalPERS board member Alfred Villalobos earned $9.6 million for pitching a client's business proposal to the big California pension fund.
Los Angeles real estate firm CIM Group began paying Villalobos commissions after it won an investment from CalPERS in 2000. The final payment came five months ago, according to documents released Wednesday by the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
The disclosure sheds new light on the success Villalobos has enjoyed since he left the CalPERS board and began representing firms seeking investment dollars from the fund. Including the CIM payments, Villalobos has earned at least $60 million over the past decade from his CalPERS dealings.
CIM fired him in August 2000 following controversy over his activities at CalPERS. In a statement Wednesday, the real estate firm said it paid Villalobos to honor its "contractual obligations."
Villalobos couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.
Charles Valdes' campaign took in $18,800 more in contributions than the law allows, according to the state FPPC's audit.
THE TRIP
CalPERS board member Charles Valdes, above, traveled to London, Dubai and Hong Kong in 2006 to deliver a 20-minute speech about CalPERS.
WHO PAID: Records show that placement agent and former CalPERS board member Alfred Villalobos used his personal credit card to pay for airline tickets.
VALDES' RESPONSE: He says Villalobos was reimbursed in cash just after the trip.
He is a leading figure in a multistate probe of placement agents, middlemen who seek investments from public pension funds. A kickback scandal involving New York's fund generated indictments in March, though Villalobos was not named in that case. CalPERS last month hired a law firm to conduct a "special review" of Villalobos and other agents.
Asked about Villalobos' role in the CIM investment, CalPERS said Wednesday: "These are important issues and we are committed to reviewing them fully and fairly."
Villalobos' clients have won at least $3 billion in deals from CalPERS, far more than any other agent who's approached the pension fund. Villalobos, who was a board member from 1993 to 1995, first approached CalPERS as an agent in 1997.
Villalobos hosted the 2004 wedding of then-CalPERS Chief Executive Fred Buenrostro at his Lake Tahoe mansion, although Buenrostro said he reimbursed him for the cost. Buenrostro now works for Villalobos' firm, Arvco Financial Ventures of Stateline, Nev.
The Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating donations by Villalobos' employees to the 2005 campaign of CalPERS board member Charles Valdes.
The documents released Wednesday show that Villalobos' son, Alfred Nash Villalobos, helped his father approach CalPERS. The younger Villalobos, a lawyer, was recently indicted on jury-tampering charges unrelated to his father's business.
He was released on a $100,000 cash bond posted by his father, according to U.S. District Court records in Los Angeles. The younger Villalobos declined to comment through his lawyer.
Also helping the elder Villalobos in 2000 was another former CalPERS board member, Kurato Shimada, according to reports in The Bee and other media outlets at the time. Shimada rejoined the board in 2002 and was recently re-elected to a new term.
CIM also paid Villalobos about $6 million for pitching investments to the California State Teachers' Retirement System, according to the documents released by CalPERS Wednesday.
CalSTRS confirmed that it has invested $259 million with CIM since 2000. Sherry Reser, a CalSTRS spokeswoman, said she had no information on Villalobos' role. CalSTRS' records on placement agents go back only to 2006.
CalPERS committed a total of $405 million to the CIM deal proposed by Villalobos. The deal earned a 22 percent annual return the last five years, although it lost 20 percent in the last year, according to CalPERS spokesman Brad Pacheco.
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