Teaneck NJ, a Bergen County, New Jersey, man today admitted that he embezzled funds from an employee benefit plan, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Howard Preschel, 63, of Teaneck, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to one count of an indictment charging him with embezzling funds from the CMG Vending Inc. Pension Trust Fund.
Ridgewood NJ, according to Garden State Initiative the NJ’s teachers’ pension fund (TPAF) will be bankrupt by 2029 & Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) by 2034.
There is a current unfunded liability of $41 billion in the TPAF & PERS pension funds for teachers and state employees that will rise to $51 billion in 2023.
This is unsustainable for New Jersey taxpayers who are facing a fiscal cliff of tax increases to pay for public employee pensions. Reform is needed. Now.
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on September 28, 2016 at 6:07 PM, updated September 28, 2016 at 7:15 PM
TRENTON — The fiscal year that ended in June was a rough one for New Jersey’s public employee pension fund as it lost nearly 1 percent on its investments, state officials reported Wednesday.
The market value of the pension fund was $72.9 billion as of June 30, according to the Division of Investment, compared with $79 billion the same time last year.
Investment officials described the fiscal year as a challenging one in which the fund’s performance lagged as compared to other pension funds, as well as the benchmark the state holds itself up against.
“The one-year period ending on June 30th was a challenging and disappointing one for most investors,” said Christopher McDonough, head of the Division of Investment.
Tom Byrne, chairman of the State Investment Council, likewise described fiscal year 2016 as “an incredibly difficult investment environment.”
“You cannot expect outsize returns in an environment with such low interest rates and with equity markets at valuations that are high relative to historical data,” Byrne said at the State Investment Council meeting Wednesday.
file photo Sweeney & Prieto
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 25, 2016 at 5:11 PM
TRENTON — New Jersey’s public pension fund is shakier than all but two U.S. states also known for their notoriously underfunded retirement systems, according to a new comparison by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The pension fund was just 42 percent funded in 2014, based on the latest data available for 238 retirement plans in 50 states, Pew said.
Illinois and Kentucky were each only 41 percent funded. Only three states — South Dakota, Oregon and Wisconsin — were more than 100 percent funded.
Pay attention, government workers — and taxpayers — in New York and New Jersey.
Last week, letters informed these Teamsters they’re facing cuts in benefits of up to 60 percent. Why? Because their pension fund is going broke.
The Central States Pension Fund covers workers from more than 1,500 trucking, construction and other companies in 37 states. Thanks to trucking deregulation, declining union rolls, aging workers and weak stock-market returns, the fund is now paying out $3.46 in benefits for every $1 it takes in. That’s $2 billion a year in red ink.
At that rate, doom arrives in 2026, sinking Central States and maybe even the federal fund that’s supposed to insure such private-sector pensions. Retirees would get even lower benefits — or maybe nothing at all.
Which is why Congress and President Obama last year gave “multi-employer” funds like Central States the green light to restructure if necessary — and slice benefits.
Guard your wallets, New Jersey taxpayers! The deficit in state pension and health-benefit plans for public employees is fast approaching $200 billion. Mark Lagerkvist, NJSpotlight Read more
