$500m CPP Scandal: A new Podcast with CICTAR Principal Analyst, Jason Ward

Following the interview with Livi Gerbase, CICTAR’s Jason Ward joins the Millennial Moron Podcast to discuss Canadian pension funds and their private equity style activities internationally. A prime example of this type of behavior is the case of the investments by the Canadian Public Pension fund, CPP into scandal hit French care home company ORPEA, and the podcast takes a deep dive into the sordid details.

The scandal that cost Canadians $500 million in CPP fund money, involves the rise and fall of a European long-term care provider called Orpea (now known as EMEIS). CPP Investments was the largest shareholder, and had employees on the board of directors, including the audit committee, yet still failed to detect any of the embezzlement, fraud, and elder abuse that was taking place throughout the company’s facilities.

After French investigative journalist Victor Castanet published a book on the scandal titled “Les Fossoyeurs” (The Gravediggers), the company collapsed and was eventually bailed out by the French government, causing CPP Investments to sell at a near-total loss.

CICTAR originally investigated ORPEA, in partnership with two of Frances’ largest unions, in 2022. Following the collapse of the company, we looked in detail at the role of the CPP Investment Board, it’s failure to act and the subsequent impact for pension fund holders, workers and care home residents.

While the scandal is widely known about in France, media coverage of this scandal has been nearly non-existent in Canada, with the exception of the Toronto Star. CPP Investments has not addressed what went wrong.