AFTRA VS JP MORGAN COMPLAINT LETTER
JANUARY 3RD, 2012 LETTER WHERE PETE ANTICO PETITIONS THE NATIONAL BOARD ASKING FOR FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY BEFORE MERGER IN REGARD TO AFTRA’S PENSION FUNDS LAWSUIT AGAINST JP MORGAN FOR SQUANDERING $500 MILLION IN INVESTMENT CAPITOL IN AN OFF-SHORE INVESTMENT.
The $500 million lost was on behalf of 3 pension funds, AFTRA being one of them. AFTRA never provided the dollar amount lost. See letter below. Why was this not made transparent before the merger? AFTRA President, Roberta Reardon denied it existed, along with the United for Strength leadership. They stated they weren’t aware of it. How could Roberta Reardon know nothing about it when she was the President of AFTRA? The lawsuit is in the public record and is posted on this fact page.
Subject: AFTRA VS JP MORGAN COMPLAINT
Sent: Tue, Jan 3, 2012 3:03 am
Subject: Re: bd. of trs. of the AFTRA ret. Fund v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N. A., 269 F.R.D. 340 (S.D.N.Y. 2010)
Please pass this letter on to everyone on your list as this letter is in the interest of transparency, forthrightness and making the best decisions regarding a merger or any other pertinent business affecting SAG/AFTRA for the benefit of SAG, AFTRA and most importantly, its membership.
Note to Michelle Bennett/SAG Governance: I Kindly request this letter be read at every division board meeting and also have it read by the national board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild.
This is an incomplete response. You did not answer any of my questions, furthermore you sent me links to the information I sent you in my previous email. I sent you a copy of the lawsuit. I read it did you? I asked for the dollar amount of your exposure not the floating percentage rate of AFTRA's loss based upon the daily asset value of the fund. The market value of the assets fluctuate daily. I will ask you again, how much money did AFTRA's pension fund invest in Sigma financial or any investments with JP Morgan? I request the actual dollar amount that was lost. As a matter of law AFTRA is required be totally transparent with its membership in this matter. At the national Hollywood board meeting held July 17th 2011, SAG lead council Duncan Crabtree Ireland stated the AFTRA's pension plan is in the yellow. You state the fund is in the green? I believe AFTRA's pension plan is critical. Kindly send by email and hard copy the current up to date market value of the AFTRA pension funds current assets and liabilities to the entire AFTRA membership.
What is AFTRA's monetary exposure in regard the above referenced litigation you have initiated against JP Morgan? The suit states the exposure between the three plaintiffs (pension funds) is in excess of five-hundred million dollars. What is the exact amount AFTRA's pension invested in Sigma through JPMorgan? Why is AFTRA the lead plaintiff if AFTRA claims to have exposure of only 2.5%? According to the pensions current funding levels I believe the fund status is endangered and well under 80%. In fact according to my calculations compiled with the current loss with JP Morgan I believe AFTRA's pension plan is either insolvent or borderline insolvent. You say you are not paying legal fees to initiate this suit. Which implies your attorney's in fact took the case on contingency. If that is true what are the legal administrative costs and expenses that you are paying i.e. court filing fees, document copying fees, court reporter fees, fed ex & courier fees, expert witness fees, travel expenses etc to date. All these aforementioned fees are payable by the plaintiffs.
This lawsuit is public knowledge and yet their has been no written nor verbal communication regarding this important issue, (Re: bd. of trs. of the AFTRA ret. Fund v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N. A., 269 F.R.D. 340 (S.D.N.Y. 2010) by AFTRA to its membership that I know of with the exception of this correspondence.
I believe you have a legal and moral obligation to be fully transparent in regard to the financial health of AFTRA members pension fund. You certainly have an obligation to be transparent about the funds assets and liabilities. The year end statement in 2010 did not disclose both the assets and liabilities of the fund. The 2010 statement only disclosed the fair market value of the fund which was $1,705,812,463. Kindly also disclose the value of the funds liabilities including all legal expenses incurred in the JP Morgan suit to date. In 2007 the liabilities were $2,012,748,604, in 2008 the figure is $2,100,612,566 and 2009 the value of the funds liabilities were $2,185,222,780. What is the value and the current market rate of the funds liabilities in 2010 and why isn't this information published in the 2010 year end statement like it is in subsequent years 2007, 2008, 2009? I request that figure be published and sent out to the AFTRA membership forthwith. In each subsequent year the funds liabilities are rising while the assets and the fair market value of the assets are diminishing.
After my initial letter dated July 15, 2011 AFTRA's Pension and Health plan sent out a notice to the membership that their plan was solvent and yet they also sent out a separate notice disclosing that AFTRA'a pension fund was applying for emergency assistance from the Government which if granted would allow the funds asset ratios to be substantially lower and retain "green" or solvent status. This is akin to FASB banking rules that allow big banks to off balance sheet all of their worthless toxic mortgage back securities so they do not have to deduct them as losses at year end. If these big banks had to keep these toxic assets on their books by the rule of law that 98% of the businesses in this country are bound to, they would be BANKRUPT. Many major economic and political figures believe this is fraud. We the People also believe this is a fraud as evidenced by the global outcry found in OCCUPY WALL STREET. Are you creating a pension fund that is TOO BIG TO FAIL?
If you do the math and add the legal fees in for the lawsuit I believe the fund will have to be reorganized. What is being done to financially rectify this issue? Will a merger with SAG add capital to AFTRA's depleted pension fund? Will a merger with SAG deplete or weaken SAG's pension fund? Why did chief SAG counsel, Duncan Crabtree Ireland state at the July 17th 2011 national board meeting that AFTRA's pension plan was in the yellow? I want the truth and action taken to protect the memberships life long earnings and also to protect SAG's pension from any financial damage that may be caused by merger that hasn't been diligently financially analyzed. This letter is not to be misconstrued as pro or anti merger on behalf of SAG or AFTRA. It is simply to gather all of the facts so all members of both entities can make an informed decision.
I would appreciate getting a detailed list of the funds investments to include corporate and mutual fund names and symbols, cusip numbers of any other funds mentioned in AFTRA's investment profile listed as "other", government bond details etc. Does the fund have any exposure to precious metals, i.e. Gold, Silver, Platinum? Gold is the best performing asset class for the last 11 years. What are the trustees doing to protect and preserve the AFTRA pensions capital? This is the second time I have asked these questions regarding AFTRA's pension trustees providing a detailed list of where and what financial instruments the AFTRA pension fund capital is invested in. I request an answer.
I also believe the entire SAG and AFTRA membership would love answers to the 5 questions below.
1. Which entertainment Cable Networks are signed to union agreements?
2. Are any of the entertainment cable network employees members of
either SAG or AFTRA? (People like the guest hosts on TCM)
3. Have the Cable News Networks MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, FOX News, The
Weather Channel, Current and other similar types of cable networks
signed a union agreement with AFTRA?
4. Are the Newscasters, Broadcasters and Staff Announcers and
Commentators who are members of SAG and or AFTRA working under a union
agreement?
5. If not, why are these members not subject to the rules of SAG and
AFTRA? The rules of both unions are unambiguous. You cannot work for
someone who has not executed a union agreement.
Gold info below for the benefit of AFTRA/SAG pension asset protection. Gold today is $1578 per ounce. Also attached herein is a copy of AFTRA's law suit against JP Morgan Chase. FYI I recommended increasing SAG's pension exposure to Gold, Silver and precious metals from 5% to 20% almost two years ago to Bruce Dow by numerous emails when Gold was trading under $900 PER OUNCE AND SILVER UNDER $20 PER OUNCE. Follow the money.
December 30, 2011 -- "Give me control of a nation's money, and I care not who makes the laws." Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Below are the last day of the year quotes for gold.
2000 -- $273.60
2001 -- $279.00
2002 -- $348.20
2003 -- $416.10
2004 -- $438.40
2005 -- $518.90
2006 -- $638.00
2007 -- $838.00
2008 -- $889.00
2009 -- $1096.50
2010 -- $1421.40
2011 -- $1566.80
This year's close for gold marks the 11th year for higher year end gold closing. To my knowledge this is the longest bull market of any kind in history in which each year's close was above the previous year. This fabulous bull market will not end with a whisper and a fizzle. I continue to believe that the upside gold crescendo of this bull market lies ahead. We are watching market history.
I note the frustration and anger of the anti-gold crowd. To miss 12 years of rising prices is enough to make any investor furious with himself. I would guess that 99 percent of Americans have never participated in the gold bull market. Thus, sour grapes is the sentiment of the gold-haters. Happy to say my subscribers who listened to me in the early years of the gold bull market have enjoyed the riches restored upon them by the greatest bull market in history.
To all my subscribers, again, let me wish you a happy and a prosperous New Year.
Another leg of support for Gold came from Europe's sovereign-debt woes, "It just doesn't go away,"
In Europe, Italian and Spanish government-bond yields rose sharply. Continuing uncertainty -- over the ability of European officials to agree on a second aid program for Greece and stop the crisis from spreading to other countries such as Spain and Italy -- spooked investors.
They tend to buy gold as a store of value during times of financial turmoil. Meanwhile, worries about rising inflation, enhanced by the possibility of the injection of further stimulus into the U.S. economy, have also supported gold, which is seen as a hedge against inflation.
Best,
Peter Antico/AFTRA/SAG member
-----Original Message-----
From: Chad Friesen <cfriesen@aftrahr.com>
To: 'poetmster@aol.com' <poetmster@aol.com>
Cc: Christine Dubois <cdubois@aftrahr.com>
Sent: Mon, Jul 18, 2011 9:59 am
Subject: Re: bd. of trs. of the AFTRA ret. Fund v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N. A., 269 F.R.D. 340 (S.D.N.Y. 2010)
Dear Mr. Antico. Please see attached a letter replying to your inquiry about the AFTRA Retirement Fund from last Friday. A printed copy of this letter is also being mailed to you to the address that we have on file for you. There are several links to online resources mentioned in this letter, and so for ease of clicking, I’ve copied and pasted those URLs for you below. Thank you.
AFTRA H&R FAQs about the JP Morgan litigation:
http://www.aftrahr.com/Home/FAQs/retirement_faqs/litigation_faqs.aspx
The most recent Annual Funding Notice to participants in March 2011:
http://www.aftrahr.com/Libraries/documents/aftrahr_fundingnotice_03-11.sflb.ashx
All publicly available information about this case (Barroway site):
http://www.jpmorgansecuritieslendinglitigation.com/
--
Chad Friesen
Communications Manager
AFTRA Health & Retirement Funds
261 Madison Ave.
New York, NY 10016-2495
-----Original Message-----
From: Pete Antico <poetmster@aol.com>
To: shelbys444 <shelbys444@aol.com>
Cc: sscott <sscott@aftra.com>; dean.ferris <dean.ferris@fox.com>; vthomas <vthomas@aftrahr.com>
Sent: Fri, Jul 15, 2011 6:53 am
Subject: bd. of trs. of the AFTRA ret. Fund v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N. A., 269 F.R.D. 340 (S.D.N.Y. 2010)
Shelby Scott
Aftra Pension -- co-chair
Dean Ferris -- chair
Shelby, Dean, I have reviewed this matter and I would appreciate some answers in regard to the health of Aftra's pension fund and the litigation Aftra is involved in with JP Morgan. I ask both of you because your signatures were on the lending documents on behalf of Aftra's investment with Sigma through JP Morgan.
What is Aftra's monetary exposure in regard the above referenced litigation you have initiated against JP Morgan? The suit states the exposure between the three plaintiffs (pension funds) is in excess of five-hundred million dollars. What is the exact amount Aftra's pension invested in Sigma through JPMorgan? According to the pensions current funding levels I believe the fund status is endangered and well under 80%. In fact according to my calculations compiled with the current loss with JP Morgan and legal expenses incurred to fight the case Aftra's pension plan is either insolvent or borderline insolvent.
This lawsuit is public knowledge and yet their has been no written nor verbal communication regarding this important issue by Aftra to its membership. I believe you have a legal and moral obligation to be fully transparent in regard to the financial health of Aftra members pension fund. You certainly have an obligation to be transparent about the funds assets and liabilities. The year end statement in 2010 did not disclose both the assets and liabilities of the fund.The 2010 statement only disclosed the fair market value of the fund which was $1,705,812,463. Kindly also disclose the value of the funds liabilities including all legal expenses incurred in the JP Morgan suit to date. In 2007 the liabilities were $2,012,748,604, in 2008 the figure is $2,100,612,566 and 2009 the value of the funds liabilities were $2,185,222,780. In each subsequent year the funds liabilities are rising while the assets and the fair market value of the assets are diminishing.
If you do math and add the legal fees in for the lawsuit the fund will have to be reorganized. What is being done to financially rectify this issue? Will a merger with SAG add capital to Aftra's depleted pension fund? Will a merger with SAG deplete or weaken SAG's pension fund?
I would appreciate getting a detailed list of the funds investments to include corporate and mutual fund names and symbols, cusip numbers of any other funds mentioned in Aftra's investment profile listed as "other", government bond details etc. Does the fund have any exposure to precious metals, i.e. Gold, Silver, Platinum? Gold is the best performing asset class for the last 10 years. What are the trustees doing to protect and preserve the Aftra pensions capital?
I look forward to your thoughts. If I can be of any assistance to you please don't hesitate to contact me.
Best,
Peter Antico / Aftra Member
Best,
Pete