The former chief investment officer of the Kentucky Public Pension Authority has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the agency, alleging he was fired for bringing up concerns about improper oversight of pension funds and the possible theft of millions of dollars.
Steven Herbert, who was hired for the top-level position within KPPA in early 2020 and fired this May, filed the complaint Friday in Franklin Circuit Court, seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He says the pension authority terminated him because he disclosed waste, fraud and abuse of public funds, in violation of the Kentucky Whistleblower Act.
As the chief investment officer of KPPA — previously known as Kentucky Retirement Systems — Herbert was responsible for overseeing the $22 billion of assets invested by the pension accounts of state and county government employees and retirees, as well as state police officers.
Herbert is represented in his lawsuit by prominent Louisville attorney Thomas Clay, who stated in the complaint that his client had shared concerns about the handling of pension funds, but "efforts to disclose this issue were repeatedly thwarted by those in authority at KPPA."
"Plaintiff's efforts to clear up processes at KPPA were consistently slowed or blocked up to and including the highest level of KPPA's organization," the complaint says, adding Herbert was fired "despite his disclosure of this possible criminal diversion of pension funds."
A KPPA spokesperson responded to Herbert's...
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