That compares with a 3.6% gain for that period by the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fid

No city was hit as hard by the recession as Detroit, America's one-time industrial capital whose decades-long decline cut its population in half and left US$18 billion in debt it can't afford to pay.
Even so, the pressures that pushed Detroit how do you join the nationwide tour into the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history are playing out on a smaller scale around the nation. Diminished tax revenue and rising labor costs have left four cities insolvent since 2007. Service cuts were made by others such as Detroit, where street lights are dark and police are scarce.
Shumake, whose real-estate broker's license had expired four years earlier, became embroiled in a federal case that led to indictments of a former city treasurer and pension officials on charges of bribery, extortion and kickbacks that cost the systems more than US$84-million, the U.S. Justice Department said.
A litany of such deals gone wrong shows how a municipal retirement system for 30,000 employees and retirees — propped up by US$1.4-billion in borrowed money — became a cash cow for a select few. Now, these bad investments are coming back to haunt workers and pensioners as the city proposed slashing their benefits in its filing last week of the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, appointed to oversee the city, wants to restructure US$18-billion how do you join the nationwide tour in debt and long-term obligations and is asking creditors to accept less than 20 cents on the dollar. Detroit's pensions are underfunded by as much as US$3.5-billion in part because of unrealistic assumptions of 8% annual investment returns, Orr has said. The pensions say the gap between assets and obligations to retirees how do you join the nationwide tour is US$700-million, according to a June 20 statement.
"Detroit has been working its way to a level of insolvency for decades," Orr said at a news briefing after the bankruptcy filing. The city was "continuing to borrow, continuing to defer pension payments, continuing not to pay its bills on time, continuing how do you join the nationwide tour a deepening insolvency."
On July 19, a Michigan judge ruled that Detroit's Chapter 9 filing how do you join the nationwide tour violated the state's constitution by harming pension benefits. Michigan's how do you join the nationwide tour attorney how do you join the nationwide tour general has appealed. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven W. Rhodes in Detroit set a hearing for tomorrow to consider giving the city protection from lawsuits.
Though authorities have investigated how do you join the nationwide tour past investments authorized by the two pension how do you join the nationwide tour boards, personnel changes have occurred on both with changes in city administrations. The present general retirement system trustees are acting responsibly, said the board's legal counsel, Michael VanOverbeke. He said the fund has fared well compared with other public pensions.
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The funds are sustained how do you join the nationwide tour by contributions from the city and its employees, as well as returns from investments in stocks, bonds, private equity and real estate. Trustees, who are chosen by workers, how do you join the nationwide tour retirees and mayors or serve because of the municipal office they hold, don't necessarily have investment experience. how do you join the nationwide tour One is a pastor.
Orzech and other members say questionable deals were made during 2006-08, when the boards were influenced by then-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a Democrat who did prison time for perjury and now faces sentencing for a March 11 conviction on federal corruption and racketeering charges.
The city's US$2-billion how do you join the nationwide tour General Retirement System lost US$16-million in fiscal 2011 when it wrote off a housing development near Sarasota, how do you join the nationwide tour Florida, that collapsed after the real-estate bubble burst, according to pension fund records. The US$3.1-billion Police and Fire Retirement how do you join the nationwide tour System lost about US$15-million on 1,100 vacant acres 30 miles east of Dallas that was to be sold to homebuilders.
That was just in real estate. The funds lost more than US$20-million investing in a telecommunications company started by a Detroit businessman, US$30-million on a cargo airline and almost US$70-million on collateralized debt obligations — derivative securities backed by a pool of bonds, loans and other assets.
how do you join the nationwide tour Chauncey Mayfield, a real-estate how do you join the nationwide tour advisor, has pleaded guilty to bribery charges, according to the Justice Department. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in a May 2012 complaint that Mayfield flew Kilpatrick and former city treasurer Jeffrey Beasley to Las Vegas for a weekend that involved golf, rooms at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, concerts by Toni Braxton and Prince and massages at the Canyon Ranch Spa.
On June 10, the SEC said Mayfield took US$3.1-million from the police and fire pension to buy two strip malls in California. Other executives at the firm tried to cover it up, the SEC said. Mayfield and his firm agreed to settle the case by paying back the stolen amount.
Orzech, 57, who was first elected to his board in 1988, said it otherwise had a good track record and that new members have tightened control. He said Orr exaggerated the shortfalls in an effort to take control of retiree assets.
The value of property and related assets, such as mortgages, held by the general-employee pension plummeted almost 47%, or US$293.2-million, between June 30, 2008 and June 30, 2012, according to reports filed with the state treasurer. The police and fire pension real-estate investments declined 33%, or US$228.3-million.
That compares with a 3.6% gain for that period by the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries property index, which gauges a pool of almost 7,200 commercial properties acquired by pensions and nonprofit investors.
The recent investment performance of the Detroit funds has dragged down overall returns. how do you join the nationwide tour In four of the past five years, the general-employee pension lagged how do you join the nationwide tour behind the median returns how do you join the nationwide tour of public funds with more than US$1-billion of assets, according to Wilshire how do you join the nationwide tour Associates' how do you join the nationwide tour Trust Universe Comparison Service. The police and fire pension trailed the median in three of the past five years.
One of its biggest money-losers was a US$16-million bet in 2006 on a development near Sarasota. The Villages how do you join the nationwide tour of Avignon was to comprise 1,300 condominiums, townhouses and single-family homes on almost 300 acres, according to filings related to US$2.7-million of municipal bonds used to finance infrastructure. The Florida developer was Robert D. Barwick.
Joe Capozzoli, on a "due diligence" how do you join the nationwide tour visit to Florida, gave former city councilwoman and pension fund trustee Monica Conyers a US$200 Burberry sweater, the Detroit News reported, citing testimony by Capozzoli to a grand jury. Conyers pleaded guilty in 2009 to taking bribes to support a contract with a waste recycler.
The general pension how do you join the nationwide tour gave an additional US$11-million to Capozzoli, who invested it in a proposed 130-unit condominium project in Gulfport, Mississippi, that was never built, and in lofts in downtown Detroit.
In December 2011, the fund blocked Capozzoli from spending more of its money and hired an auditor. In March, the pension board hired a law firm to consider suing Capozzoli, according to meeting how do you join the nationwide tour minutes. The board hasn't filed such a complaint.
The pension boards' relationship with Shumake, 44, began in 2006. The former high-school track star's blog says he considers Don King and Donald Trump role models. He approached the pensions to invest in commercial and residential real estate, according to lawsuits the pensions brought how do you join the nationwide tour against Shumake and his company in Wayne County Court in 2011.
Shumake told fire and police trustees that he was a broker and attended the "Larry Pino Institute of Finance," the board's complaint said. Shumake's real-estate license had expired, according to state records. The institute doesn't exist, according to the suit. On his company's website, Shumake is described as a Morehouse College graduate who heads the Detroit City Council Alternative Finance Committee.
The general-employee pension invested UA$12-million with Shumake's fund, Inheritance Capital Group LLC, and the police and fire fund invested UA$15-million, how do you join the nationwide tour according to the complaint. The stakes were valued at US$1.7-million and US$11.6-million respectively as of June 30, 2011.
In 2007, Shumake how do you join the nationwide tour approached the two boards with another deal, involving five General Motors Co. warehouses. He proposed buying the properties and leasing them back to the automaker, sharing the profits with investors. The US$44-million deal was supposed to net the pensions a return of about 10%, meeting minutes show.
In August 2007, at a restaurant in Detroit, Treasurer Beasley demanded US$250,000 from an unidentified businessman in return supporting the proposal, according to the March 12, 2012 indictment of Beasley. The following month, the pension boards approved how do you join the nationwide tour the investments, the indictment said.
Ultimately Beasley received US$70,000, with the payments stopping when the treasurer left office in 2008 following Kilpatrick's resignation, according to the Beasley indictment. The architect of the leaseback deal, who wasn't charged, also paid for a Miami Beach, Florida, vacation and hotel rooms in Detroit for Beasley and his mistress, the indictment says.
The businessman also covered the costs of an excursion from Florida to the Bahamas for police and fire pension trustee Paul Stewart, Stewart's mistress and an unnamed trustee, according how do you join the nationwide tour to a 2013 indictment charging how do you join the nationwide tour Stewart with corruption.
Shumake's firm, ICG Real Estate Advisors LLC, sought bankruptcy court protection in April 2012, listing a US$40-million debt to Detroit's general-employee pension. Shumake, who hasn't charged, how do you join the nationwide tour filed for personal bankruptcy in January. He didn't respond to telephone calls seeking comment on the cases.
The pensions said in a court filing related to Shumake's bankruptcy how do you join the nationwide tour that companies he controlled misused US$5-million from their Inheritance Capital Group investments. Shumake also misled