Fighting City Hall From Within: An Ongoing Series II
Matt Shorraw, Mayor City of Monessen
A Mayor’s story of exposing corruption, and searching for ways to revive a Rust Belt city in Pennsylvania.
Part II
The Monessen Police Pension Saga
The Monessen Police Pension situation has been an unfolding debacle since January 2018, when I took office. Upon taking office, I had suspicions that the pension transfer which was finalized in a vote several weeks prior to me taking office, was questionable to say the least. I was concerned that there were improprieties in regards to the pension, so I contacted Pennsylvania Auditor General DePasquale, and asked him to look into the matter. His office agreed to look into it, since they were already working on another ongoing audit of the Monessen Police Pension.
The Monessen Police Pension Fund was transferred from Patrick Geary of VOYA to Fusion Investment (which was bought out by Rayliant Global Advisors), and finally, most recently, to Huntington Bank. When the pension transferred from VOYA to fusion in early 2018, it was done so two weeks before I took office as Mayor. This was after my predecessor, former Mayor Mavrakis lost the election.
In late September 2016, Monessen Council moved to advertise for a new pension fund administrator. In October 2016, Gary Matta, Monessen Solicitor and naming partner of the city’s law firm met with the city’s actuary that handles the police pension. Gary attended that meeting with his brother George Matta. At that time, George had no connections or employment with the city of Monessen. The administrator position was not advertised until July 2017, while the authorization was given in September 2016. The position was given to Gary’s brother George in December 2017, roughly 15 months after the authorization to advertise was given.
Despite attempting to stop the transfer, after taking office, I was not successful in getting council to stop the process due to the conflicts of interest. The Monessen Police Pension Board did not agree for the pension to be transferred out of VOYA, and according to Auditor General DePasquale’s July 2018 audit, the process was undertaken with little to no documentation, and with potential violations of PA Act 44 of 2009 (Pay-to-Play Pension fraud). Auditor General DePasquale’s report can be found online. Additionally, the company that acquired the pension fund, Fusion Investments, had the same address and suite number in Canonsburg, as the city’s law firm.
In early 2019, Monessen Council moved to transfer the pension out of the hands of George Matta of Rayliant (formerly Fusion) to Huntington Bank. At one point, in Spring or 2019, George Matta was not responding to phone calls from Huntington Bank, to proceed with the transfer. Also this Spring, the city received an invoice from the solicitors, requesting the city pay for a phone call between the Attorney General, the Solicitors, and Attorney Scott Lautner. The following day, they researched fraud, misrepresentation, statute of limitations, and promissory estoppel, all under the category of Pension. This appears to be wire fraud.
In my view, the Monessen Police Pension fund should possess the ability to legally recoup all fees, charges, and/or any other charges lodged against the pension fund by George Matta/Fusion/Rayliant for falsifying qualifications, hiding criminal intent, and illegally transferring $4.1 million from the City of Monessen Police Pension Fund initially, even though $3.8 million has since been forwarded to Huntington Bank (the newly chosen fund manager).
In early April 2018, I participated in a meeting at City Hall with two officials from Auditor General DePasquale’s office. Also in attendance were Solicitor Krisha DiMascio, Solicitor Joe Dalfonso, City Clerk Judith Taylor, Councilmen Anthony Orzechowski, Ron Chiaravalle (since-deceased), and Dave Feehan (on the phone). The officials from the Auditor General’s office told everyone in attendance that there was a potential violation of PA Act 44 of 2009 (pay-to-play pension fraud). Council and Solicitors reacted by saying that I had no business reporting this to the state authorities, and acted very upset that I had done such a thing. They were screaming and raising their voices the remainder of the meeting.
In May 2018, prior to a council meeting, council members (Councilman Coles was not present) were upset with me because I had informed a city employee that a councilman had called her a derogatory name after a prior meeting. I felt that this was inappropriate and that she should know about it. The employee was also currently in the middle of a sexual harassment lawsuit with former Mayor Mavrakis. She told her lawyer about the comment that was made. City Council and the Solicitor found out and accused me of divulging legal strategy. They insisted on my resignation, and told me that if were to quit this “would all go away”. They wanted me to resign before the council meeting that we were to have within the next 30 minutes. They had a response already prepared in the case that I were to resign. They said that if I did not resign, they would read a “vote of no confidence” resolution which was prepared by Solicitor Dalfonso, and which has no legal standing. I told them that I would not resign, and said, “I’ll do what I need to do and you do what you need to do” and I walked out of the building. This led to me staying away from meetings to the present day. In my opinion, these actions were retaliation for me going to the state about the improprieties I found. I certainly wouldn’t want to get pinned with something I didn’t do. Since I was aware of what was going on, it was my sworn duty to report it.
In July, 2018, Pennsylvania Auditor General DePasquale released his audit report of the Monessen Police Pension fund, citing improprieties, lack of documentation, and potential pension fraud. He said that he would be handing the investigation over to the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission, the US Attorney’s Office, and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
In September 2019, Pennsylvania Auditor General DePasquale issued another audit, finding the city officials complied with state regulations, in remedying the situation above. His office issued a withdrawal of cause. This still leaves room for potential federal crimes to be investigated. The PA Auditor General’s office has limited prosecutorial abilities, so a federal entity would need to investigate federal crimes. I have been working with federal agencies to determine next steps, in order to hold people accountable.
As you can see, the above mentioned illegalities, improprieties, and ethics violations, along with past improprieties by the law firm of Dodaro, Matta, and Cambest and their associations paint a broad picture of regional crime that is hurting communities in the Pittsburgh region, and has been doing so for decades. These issues need to be thoroughly investigated, so our communities cease being a mechanism for corruption. Cities cannot move forward in an equitable manner, as long as corrupt or unethical practices are taking place.
MS
