Spot.us "Investors' Club, How the UC Regents Spin Public Funds into Private Profit by Peter Byrne (Part 1 of 8)

Here is the the first of eight parts in this investigative reporting done in 2010...still relevant, if not more so today. 

The point of these individual posts is to point readers to information regarding the people who have manipulated not only our water law and policy via bogus federal legislation in attempts to over ride California's state's rights, but to also illustrate the inter-connected spiderweb (collusion to perpetuate fraud) that has been woven out of San Francisco.

Hopefully, at some point soon, someone with the legal savvy and the financial backing will throw down the gauntlet and force a legal showdown. One carried out in a genuine court of law and not some jack-rigged panel of judicial activists.  (Who quite frankly, should be disbarred for their actions. That's my opinion.)

To access the entire article with live links, please visit:  http://www.spot.us/pitches/337-investors-club-how-the-uc-regents-spin-public-funds-into-private-profit/story

Story: The Investors’ Club: How the University of California Regents Spin Public Money into Private Profit

“As universities become glorified vocational schools for corporations they adopt values and operating techniques of the corporations they serve.” – Chris Hedges (Empire of Illusion, 2009)

This piece has been republished by The Berkeley Daily Planet. A version of it also ran in the Sacramento News & Review, Santa Cruz Weekly, North Bay Bohemian, and the SF Public Press. Analysis from California Watch, The Aggie,Huffington Post, KCSB Radio, SFBG, The Daily Nexus and more. The story has been nominated for a Project Censored Award and has won the SPJ Northern California Chapter's James Madison Freedom of Information Award for Journalism. It was also a finalist for an Investigative Reporters and Editors award.

• Part One: The Investor's Club - 

Introduction and overview of the 8-part investigation. The eight parts of this investigation and two appendixes are linked within the introduction. They may be read sequentially or as stand alone stories.

• See Part Two: The Smell Test

How to tell the difference between a conflict of interest and a coincidence.

• See Part Three: The Regents' Club

Conflicts of interest are nothing new at UC, but they are getting worse.

• See Part Four: Seven Private Equity Deals

How Regent Richard C. Blum benefited from $748 million worth of private equity and bond investments by UC.

• See Part Five: Four Case Studies in Conflicts of Interest by UC Regents

The nitty gritty of how these deals went down.

• See Part Six: Billion Dollar Babies & The Senator's Educational Conflict

The University of California invests $53 million in two diploma mills owned by a regent married to a U.S. Senator.

• See Part Seven: Tapping the State Pension Fund

Against all odds, literally, a regent secures billions of dollars in CalPERS investments.

• See Part Eight: Blum Capital Partners Gets Lucky

UC owns stocks in all of the public companies in Regent Richard C. Blum's portfolio.

• See Appendix One: Research Methodology

• See Appendix Two: Financial Dossiers of Regents to Watch