$38 Million Dispute Between California State Retirement Fund and 'Father' of State Stem Cell Agency
Lawsuit connected to big Los Angeles real estate deal
The real estate investment firm led by the man known as the father of the state of California’s stem cell agency has been sued by the state’s public employees’ retirement system for withholding $38.3 million that it is allegedly owed.
The suit by the $465 billion California Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) names Klein Financial Corp. of Palo Alto, Ca., whose president is Robert Klein. He was the chief sponsor of the ballot initiative that created the stem cell agency in 2004. Klein also directed the 2020 initiative that saved the agency from financial extinction.
Funding for the agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), is projected to cost taxpayers at least $12 billion before it runs out of money again in eight or fewer years.
Klein, a multimillionaire real estate developer, was chosen as the first chair of the agency in 2004, a post he held until 2011, when he left to devote more attention to his real estate business. However, he has retained ties with the stem cell field through his advocacy group, Americans for Cures.
The lawsuit against Klein’s firm was filed in Sacramento Superior Court. It was first reported in newspapers owned by American City Business Journals. The story was carried today by its publications in Sacramento, San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
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