Newark Investment Firm’s Racial Bias Suit Can Proceed, Judge Rules

NEWARK, NJ — A federal judge has ruled that several aspects of a racial bias lawsuit filed by a Black-owned investment firm in Newark can proceed.

Blueprint Capital Advisors LLC is alleging that money-management giant BlackRock Inc. and Owl Rock Capital Corp. conspired with New Jersey state officials as part of an “old-boy, pay-to-play network” to steal its plan to lower public pension plan costs, Bloomberg News recently reported.

Blueprint Capital claims that it submitted confidential information about its plan to New Jersey’s Division of Investment (DOI) and an outside consultant, hoping to secure investments. However, the state then allegedly took the plan and partnered with BlackRock Inc. and Owl Rock instead.

Blueprint also named several state officials in the suit, including Gov. Phil Murphy, as well as the DOI and its outside consultant, Cliffwater LLC, Bloomberg reported.

“We continue to believe the lawsuit has no merit and we are confident that we will prevail in this dispute,” a BlackRock spokesperson said. Read the full article here.

The Dec. 23 court opinion can be seen here, via Justia.com. Read More: Black-Owned Newark Investment Firm Sues NJ, Alleges Racial Bias

“Sadly, the treatment of Blueprint is indicative of how things really go down when no one is looking,” co-founder and CEO Jacob Walthour Jr. alleged in 2020. “There is an entrenched ‘good old boys’ network in Trenton and the DOI that has never worked to the benefit of minorities or women.”

The New Jersey Division of Investment is one of the largest U.S. pension fund managers in the United States.

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