Marathon Pundit: Ill. settles suit on money losing college saving program--gets 56% back

I remember it like it was yesterday....Alexi Giannoulias' 2006 appearance on WBBM-AM Chicago's "At Issue" program, where he repeatedly declared, "We need a banker in the state treasurer's office."

What hath the "boy banker" wrought? A big loss for taxpayers.

From Greg Hinz' Crain's Chicago Business blog:

The state of Illinois has reached a settlement in its lawsuit over losses in the Bright Start college savings program under which parents will get back $77.23 million — slightly more than half (emphasis mine) of what they lost in investments handled by Oppenheimer Funds Inc.

Under terms of a deal being announced Tuesday, Oppenheimer will pay the money to partially cover losses in its Core Plus fund, in which many Bright Start families had invested, for the period Jan. 1, 2008, through Jan. 25, 2009.

Parents will get the settlement proceeds early in 2010, after they sign a release received by the settlement's administrator.

The Bright Start program is run by Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President Barack Obama's old Senate seat.