Campaign Updates
Milestones and progress in the Arkansans for Pension Integrity investigation.
Follow the progress of our investigation and campaign.
2026
May 8 — AJRS (Arkansas Judicial Retirement System) identified as the sixth Arkansas public pension system covered by Act 498 of 2023. FOIA request filed (Round 4) and acknowledged same-day by Richmond Giles, APERS Staff Attorney — operationally confirming that the same legal staff handles correspondence for both APERS and AJRS. AJRS is administered by APERS staff and shares investment infrastructure, but operates as a separate benefit plan with its own Board of Trustees and approximately $309 million in trust assets (~89% funded). Production deadline extended to May 15, 2026 by mutual agreement; response pending.
April 20 — Arkansas Securities Department delivers FOIA response on the for-profit broker-dealer that exclusively sells the bonds under investigation (FINRA CRD# 11148). The Web CRD records document the broker-dealer’s Arkansas registration history including a registration scope restricted by its terms to “BONDS FOR THE STATE OF ISRAEL” (effective June 25, 1984 — a scope shared in only two other states), the 1986 Arkansas suspension under Securities Order 86-27-S (vacated July 22, 1986), four FINRA disclosure events spanning 1983–2014, and three Arkansas-registered agents on file. The findings establish the regulatory record relevant to A.C.A. § 24-2-618(e)’s exclusive-agency provision and the Pension Investment Transparency Act’s procedural standards. Investigation corpus now spans six respondent agencies (Treasury, ATRS, APERS, Auditor of State, ASHERS, Arkansas Securities Department) plus three confirmed-null responses (ASPRS, LOPFI, AJRS pending).
April 9 — LOPFI (Local Police and Fire Retirement System) confirmed no responsive records and no current holdings of the bonds under investigation. LOPFI manages its own investments independently with approximately $3.15 billion under management. With LOPFI’s response, five of six Arkansas pension systems had responded. Total corpus: 1,227 documents across three FOIA rounds.
March 28 — ASHERS (Arkansas State Highway Employees’ Retirement System) delivered FOIA Round 3 response — 5 documents including email correspondence revealing that the bond issuer’s national sales leadership was introduced to ASHERS staff through the same April 2025 pitch tour, but ASHERS declined to invest. ASPRS (Arkansas State Police Retirement System) confirmed no responsive documents — assets commingled with APERS under Act 1242 of 2009. Investigation corpus reaches 1,227 total documents (1,044 active after deduplication).
March 25 — Analyzed publicly-posted APERS Board Packet for June 11, 2025 (88 pages). Key finding: the same board meetings that produced 37 pages of Callan quarterly analysis and detailed institutional presentations for infrastructure and private credit investments contained zero pages of analysis for the $25–50 million sovereign bond authorization. Filed FOIA Round 3 requests to ASHERS (Arkansas State Highway Employees’ Retirement System) and LOPFI (Local Police and Fire Retirement System), expanding the investigation to two previously uninvestigated pension systems.
March 24 — Completed Auditor Round 2 processing. All four agencies’ FOIA responses now fully ingested. Round 2 corpus: 1,222 total documents across 4 agencies (1,039 active after deduplication). Registry passes validation with zero critical findings.
March 17 — Spotlight PA publishes investigation into Pennsylvania Treasurer’s sovereign bond purchases and ethics concerns — independent journalists in another state asking the same fiduciary questions our FOIA investigation has documented in Arkansas. Read the Spotlight PA report.
March 3 — Auditor of State delivers Round 2 FOIA response — 124 documents from three custodians (Dennis Milligan, Jason Brady, Wendy Spadoni) received via flash drive from General Counsel TJ Fowler. Documents cover the Auditor’s coordination of the April 2025 bond issuer pitch tour, internal communications, and SFOF-related materials.
March 1 — Completed assessment of APERS and ATRS Round 2 FOIA responses. Key findings: Brady-as-conduit confirmed with direct quotes; APERS purchase timeline reconstructed; ATRS investment management structure documented.
February 27 — APERS delivered Round 2 FOIA response — 16 documents including an 8,648-page comprehensive production containing the agency’s sovereign bond records.
February 20 — FOIA Round 2 Treasury response fully ingested — 118 new documents added to the investigation.
February 19 — Website launched; investigation corpus has grown to more than 1,100 public records across two FOIA rounds.
February 5 — FOIA Round 2 requests submitted to all four agencies: Treasury, ATRS, APERS, and Auditor of State.
2025
October — FOIA Round 1 responses received from all four Arkansas agencies. Initial analysis begins.
August — First round of FOIA requests filed with Arkansas Treasury, ATRS, APERS, and Auditor of State.
Spring — Investigation formally launched. Campaign infrastructure development begins.