Report: SEC seeks info on possible gifts to pension’s staff

PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has joined a federal probe of Pennsylvania’s largest pension fund and is seeking among other things records to determine whether improper “compensation and gifts” may have been offered staff, a newspaper reported. Pension fund system spokesperson Steve Esack said Saturday that the fund had no comment on the SEC action, the newspaper said. The pension fund board voted nearly unanimously in April to increase contribution rates after revealing in March what it called a consultant’s erroneous calculation about the fund’s long-term investment performance that helps determine the balance of payments into the system by taxpayers and school employees. The original calculation — 6.38% growth over the nine years ending last June 30 — was slightly above a 6.36% growth threshold, thus protecting school employees hired after 2011 from seeing a higher risk-sharing contribution rate kick in.