The Retirement Systems of the City of Detroit has announced it is actively assisting the Michigan State Police with a criminal investigation involving the actions of a former staff person who was taken into custody on Wednesday, July 24.
The former staff person, who was not named, worked for the combined Police and Fire Retirement System and the General Retirement System. The individual was the target of an MSP investigation after investigations by other law enforcement agencies on an unrelated criminal probe.
The former staff person allegedly re-issued payments onto payment cards (pre-paid credit/debit cards) issued by the retirement system to a small number of pensioners who are unbanked. Upon learning of the investigation, RSCD took immediate steps to abate any further fraudulent or unlawful actions.
The extent of the card theft is under investigation, but could be as much as several hundred thousand dollars. The criminal investigation is ongoing, and RSCD officials have been requested by MSP to not comment further given the active investigation.
The MSP contacted the RSCD on July 3, to alert the system of potential fraud and request its assistance in their ongoing investigation. MSP also issued a search warrant for specific RSCD records.
RSCD management states it provided documents and fully cooperated with the MSP and adhered to the request to only discuss the investigation with those who needed to know for the purposes of their preliminary investigation.
The General Retirement System (GRSD) and Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS) are separate entities that share a common staff and offices to reduce overhead costs and streamline operations.
The GRS Board is comprised of a 10-member Board of Trustees. The Board includes five elected active-duty members, one elected retired member, one City Council designee, one Community appointed member, and two ex-officio members appointed by the duly elected Mayor.
The Board oversees the $1.7 billion fund serving some 11,000 retired members and approximately 5,000 active members.
Once a month public meeting of the GRSD take place on the third Wednesday at 10 a.m. Minutes and meeting records are posted on the GRSD page of the RSCD website at RSCD.org.
The PFRS Board is currently comprised of a 16-member Board of Trustees. The Board includes six elected active-duty police and fire personnel (3 each); and two elected retired personnel (one each police and fire); one City Council designee appointed and seven ex-officio appointees of the City of Detroit, appointed by the duly elected Mayor.
The Board oversees the $2.7 billion fund serving some 8,000 retired police and fire and approximately 3,000 active duty first responders.
Twice per month public meetings of the PFRS are conducted on Thursdays at 9 a.m. Minutes and meeting records are posted on the PFRS page of the RSCD website at RSCD.org.
