A couple years ago, I published a post that discusses “What happens when a Judge lies...” Recently, I uncovered the fact that a
District Court Judge in Iowa wrongfully changed a second degree kidnapping with a dangerous weapon charge to a lesser charge so he could turn the criminal loose with no adjudication and a small civil fine. Iowa District Court Judge Jeffrey Farrell made a decision in 2015 to gift Mark Hanrahan, then a Principal Real Estate Director, with a Deferred Judgment sentence in the 2015 kidnapping of an Hyspanic male at gun point. Despite the violent nature of Hanrahan’s crime, Judge Farrell decided his bench case in Hanrahan’s favor, while disregarding the language of the law. What follows in Judges lie to protect the guilty is a discussion of the impact Judge Farrell’s decision may have had on your 401k plan
Why Judges lie to protect the guilty…
To begin, a bit of history on Mark Hanrahan. By his own comments on social media, Hanrahan was responsible for approximately $10 billion dollars worth of commercial property for the Principal Group of Companies. His closest associates included a number of commercial property developers, with Wells Fargo at the top of his account list. Hanrahan bought and sold commercial properties for 401k plan separate accounts. Primarily, he negotiated deals with Wells Fargo and other investment companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars of your money! During the months leading up to and including the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, he lost billions of dollars of 401k plan dollars, while Principal’s net earnings skyrocketed!
To really understand Hanrahan’s dealings, you will have to review the posts I have published during the past decade. Many of this posts involve Mark Hanrahan, and typically Well Fargo as well. If you had a 401k plan managed by Principal before 2015, Mr. Hanrahan was a managing director for your plan, and had a major role in managing commercial properties invested in the Principal U. S. Property Separate Account!
Hanrahan was a big spender by his own right, not only owning a home in the Des Moines, Iowa, area, but also a multi-million dollar mansion on the Southern Florida Gulf Coast. He also owned a motel, as I recall, in a partnership with other Principal Real Estate partners. Based on several news articles describing the kidnapping in 2015, we can assume Mark Hanrahan was a heavy drug user, considering the fact he kidnapped his victim at gun point.
In 2015, Mark Hanrahan was working for Principal in the same position he had years earlier. We will assume by the facts that he was a drug user while managing billions of dollars for Principal. Prosecuting Hanrahan would mean a lengthy jury trial, and too much publicity. Testimony at his trial and the fact that losing billions of dollars of 401k dollars could raise a few questions with the Department of Justice, followed by more investigations.
The possibility that Hanrahan was in control of billions of 401k investors’ money while under the influence of drugs would definitely cost Principal billions in lost revenues, which in turn would impact the economy in the community where Principal is headquartered. In the very least, Principal had to control the situation or their many crimes against 401k investors could be exposed.
Only Judge Farrell could stack the deck to favor Principal, and he did so at a great risk to himself and his reputation as a District Court Judge. Replacing the obvious crime of second degree felony with what is considered by many as a misdemeanor to deceive the public should be considered a crime in itself. Hanrahan literally served no jail time for his crime, which is unbelievable when considering the fact he held a loaded gun on his victim while being forced into Hanrahan’s’ vehicle. From his actions, we can assume he was, and may still be considered under the law, a violent criminal.
Charging Hanrahan with second degree kidnapping could have cost Principal millions of dollars in claim settlements to their clients. Sadly, the Iowa District Court system has shuttered their windows when doing business with Principal, and no longer have, if they ever had, any resemblance of integrity or ethics.
