The saga of Chooch, the low-budget film dragged into the Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the financial links between investment firms and the New York State pension fund, from which they were seeking business, is intriguing.
The film itself, to judge by its Amazon DVD description, only sounds worth renting if you are desperate:
Bocci Park, Queens, is a neighborhood where friends and family are everything. After blowing the big game with their local rivals, Dino Condito (Carmine Famiglietti) is branded the “chooch” (jackass), and in Bocci Park, nicknames can stick. To cheer him up, his cousin Jubilene (Joseph Summa) springs for a vacation in Cancun that will take them out of Queens for the very first time. The trip turns into a comic odyssey as a mix-up at the airport lands them in a Mexican jail, and now it’s up to the neighborhood “crew” to bust them out – with a little help from Dino’s dog, Kiwi. By the end of this heart-warming, laugh-out-loud comedy, Dino finds love in the unlikeliest of places, and everyone is reminded of what life is all about.
The relevant fact about Chooch is that it was part-produced by Steve Loglisci, the brother of David Loglisci, a former New York State pension fund official. An SEC complaint against David Loglisci alleges that he steered state business to an investor in Chooch. He has denied the SEC allegations.
Controversy over the affair has weighed down Steve Rattner, the head of the White House auto task force, who has resigned after six months in the post. According to the New York Times, he is thought by investigators to have been among contributors to Chooch.
There has been no suggestion of wrongdoing by Mr Rattner or Quadrangle, the private equity fund that he formerly headed. Still, the affair as a whole is very curious.
