Deutsch resigns as San Diego CIO

His announcement comes one week after the pension fund announced losses related to WG Trading.

Paul Greenwood and Stephen Walsh - principals of both WG Trading and Westridge Capital Management (WCM) - were arrested last month on allegations of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud. The two are accused of scamming a total of US$554m from investors. (Global pensions, 26 February 2009)

Deutsch is best known for helping to develop the pension fund's hedge fund strategy, but came under scrutiny for a $US175m loss from Amaranth Advisors three years ago.

Amaranth's downfall, at the time the highest profile hedge fund meltdown since Long Term Capital Management in 1999, collapsed after it made wrong bets on the natural gas markets.

SDCERA filed a lawsuit against Amaranth in 2006 and recovered $48.2m in January 2007.

SDCERA's chairman Garry Sobeck said: "I would like to thank David, on behalf of the board of retirement, for his contributions in guiding the investment strategy of SDCERA for the past five years. We wish David the best in his future endeavours."

The board has created a subcommittee to review potential candidates for Deutsch's replacement. Deutsch joined SDCERA in 2004.