Massachusetts Court Rules MBTA Retirement Fund Records Are Subject to State Public Records Law

A specialized area of “law and aging” is accountability for retirement investments, including public employee pension funds.  In Massachusetts there has been a long feud between the Boston Globe media company and the Massachusetts Bay Retirement Authority (MTBA) Pension Fund over access to pension records, especially after the loss of some $25 million in employee retirements assets following the collapse of a hedge fund holding MTBA money.  Last month, a Massachusetts judge rejected key arguments by the MTBA’s that the records in question were not subject to state public records law:

“The Court will ALLOW the Globe’s motion for summary judgment and DENY the Retirement Board’s cross-motion. The Retirement Board’s preliminary assertions that the Supreme Judicial Court has already resolved the central question of statutory interpretation in the Board’s favor, and that in any case the Globe may not press its claims because it failed to join other necessary parties, are both incorrect. On the merits, the Court concludes that the Board does indeed receive public funds from the MBTA, and thus that the Board’s records are now subject to mandatory disclosure under the public records law unless they fall within one of the statutory exemptions. The Board’s assertion that the 2013 statutory amendment only applies to records created after its effective date is also incorrect.”

For more on the reasoning, see Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC v. Retirement Bd. of Massachusetts Bay Transp. Authority Retirement Fund, 2016 WL 915330 (Superior Ct. Suffolk County, Mass, March 9, 2016). 

See also Boston Globe media reports, including Judge Calls for Open MBTA Pension Files, detailing some of the related allegations by whistleblower Harry Markopolos and Boston University finance professor Mark Williams.  See also a consulting firm’s March 9, 2016 Report for the MBTA that concluded MBTA had accurately reported accounting data on the pension funds during the years in question.