Ex-Calpers CEO Gets 4 1/2 Years Prison for Bribery Scheme

A former chief executive officer of the country’s biggest pension fund was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for steering $14 million in placement fees to an ex-board member in exchange for cash bribes and gifts. Federico Buenrostro, 66, who headed the California Public Employees’ Retirement System from 2002 to 2008, was also ordered Tuesday to pay a $250,000 fine by a San Francisco federal judge who called his crime “a dagger in the heart of public trust.”
He admitted two years ago to conspiring to commit bribery and defrauding the U.S. and the state of California for his efforts on behalf of Alfred Villalobos, an ex-board member who brokered a $3 billion investment by Calpers in funds managed by Apollo Global Management LLC. Villalobos, who was also charged in the case, committed suicide last year, a month before he was scheduled to go to trial.