Kang has previously worked at Guggenheim Partners, PIMCO, and Goldman Sachs.
A former Indian American financial strategist of New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYCRF) has been charged for prostitutes and drugs bribery scheme involving billions of dollars in business, prosecutors said.
Navnoor Kang a former director and strategist at the NYCRF, “allegedly steered billions of dollars of business to broker-dealers who bribed him with luxury vacations, high-priced watches, drugs, cash and more”, accused the Indian American Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday.
According to IANS, a court document that it accessed has listed the services of prostitutes and strippers, “nightclub bottle service” and a Panerai watch worth $17,420 among the bribes allegedly received by Mr. Kang.
Mr. Bharara said Kang was arrested in Portland in Oregon state and was produced before a federal judge.
Mr. Kang, 38, is a former tennis player who has played in international tournaments in 2005 and 2006. While at NYCRF Kang managed portfolios ranging from Director of Fixed Income and Head of Portfolio Strategy. NYCRF is the third biggest pension fund in the US with $184 billion in assets.
According to Berra, Mr. Kang was involved in an illicit relation with at least two brokerages and diverted business from NYCRF in exchange for the bribes.
Kang has previously worked at Guggenheim Partners, PIMCO, and Goldman Sachs.
In Kang’s case, the gifts allegedly involved:
- “Weekend trips to Montreal, which would include prostitutes, nightclub bottle
- $50,000 at restaurants and bars
- A $17,420 Panerai watch
- An $8,000 Rolex
- A $4,200 Hermes bracelet (for Kang’s girlfriend, who presumably didn’t know about the prostitutes)
- V.I.P. tickets to a Paul McCartney concert at a cost of $6,000
The broker-dealers, Deborah Kelley and Gregg Schonhorn, were also charged alongwith Kang for executing fixed income trades on behalf of the pension fund They face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
According to the indictment, each earned millions in dollars as commissions for fraud.