{"id":422814,"date":"2010-03-12T14:26:23","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T19:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a92d6e4b970b"},"modified":"2010-03-12T17:39:17","modified_gmt":"2010-03-12T22:39:17","slug":"embattled-o-c-treasurer-wont-seek-re-election-asks-supervisors-to-strip-him-of-investment-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/422814","title":{"rendered":"Embattled O.C. treasurer won’t seek re-election, asks supervisors to strip him of investment powers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Street\"<\/img><\/a> Orange County Treasurer Chriss Street will not seek re-election and has asked county supervisors to temporarily strip him of his investment powers over the county\u2019s investment pool of about $5 billion. <\/p>\n

The statement and request comes in the wake of a $7-million judgment against Street for self-dealing and mismanaging a bankruptcy trust as a trustee for eight years before he was elected treasurer in 2006. <\/p>\n

Supervisor John Moorlach, the county\u2019s former treasurer and once one of Street\u2019s biggest supporters, had called for Street\u2019s resignation, and Supervisor Bill Campbell said Thursday that he had submitted an agenda item for Tuesday\u2019s meeting to take away Street\u2019s investment powers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a public servant, I am committed to putting the interests of the taxpayers and my staff first,\u201d Street wrote in the letter sent Friday to county Chairwoman Janet Nguyen. \u201cIt is therefore my recommendation that the Board of Supervisors temporarily delegate investment authority of the County Pools to the elected Auditor-Controller David Sundstrom while I weigh my legal options.\u201d <\/p>\n

Street\u2019s attorney said his client did not resign because he didn\u2019t feel that would be \u201cappropriate\u201d or \u201cnecessary.\u201d <\/p>\n

Street announcement awakens memories of the county\u2019s\u00a0historic bankruptcy<\/a><\/a> in 1994, at the time the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. <\/p>\n

The 1994 financial collapse was blamed on the risky and capricious investment strategy developed by then-Treasurer Robert Citron. Street, along with Moorlach, was among those who had predicted the county\u2019s bankruptcy and was viewed as a reformist when he took office. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit that resulted in the $7-million judgment stems from the eight years that Street spent at the helm of a bankruptcy trust for a group of shipping companies, in which he was supposed to conserve and liquidate assets for the beneficiaries, but instead bought bankrupt trailer manufacturers and lost millions, according to court document.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a case where a fiduciary lost sight of his mandate … by engaging in unsuccessful business ventures, self-dealing and violations of the liquidating trust agreement,\u201d wrote Judge Richard Neiter, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge who presided over the two-day trial in early February.<\/p>\n

Street was trying to create a conglomerate of which he would be chief executive, Neiter wrote. <\/p>\n

— Raja Abdulrahim<\/p>\n

Photo: Orange County Treasurer Chriss Street in 2008. Credit: Marc Martin \/ Los Angeles Times <\/em><\/p>\n

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Convicted drug dealer pleads no contest in ‘bling ring’ celebrity theft case<\/a><\/p>\n

Brother of accused LAPD detective criticizes judge for high bail<\/a><\/p>\n

4 teenagers wounded in Laguna Beach knife fight<\/a><\/p>\n

Alarcon says D.A.’s office failed to tell him that alleged intruder had been released from mental hospital<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orange County Treasurer Chriss Street will not seek re-election and has asked county supervisors to temporarily strip him of his investment powers over the county\u2019s investment pool of about $5 billion. The statement and request comes in the wake of a $7-million judgment against Street for self-dealing and mismanaging a bankruptcy trust as a trustee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4135,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422814\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}