Adam Crum blasted for 'overall lack of diligence' on handling $225 million in savings
It didn’t take a $350,000 contract with WilmerHale to determine that Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum failed to conduct “rigorous due diligence” when he decided to take up to $225 million in short-term money and make long-term investments with three giant companies he chose on his own.
The law firm, which just finished its work, has called for a change in state rules so that a revenue commissioner can no longer make investment decisions alone. That is necessary when you have a revenue commissioner who doesn’t have the sense to consult experts in and out of state government.
What’s new in the report is a disclosure that Crum had approved three investments of $75 million each, but had only completed the one with DigitalBridge when he quit his state job to run for governor last summer.
The acting revenue commissioner who took over after Crum canceled two of the investments, worth a total of $150 million, that had not been completed before he quit.
That left the $75 million DigitalBridge investment in “digital infrastructure” the only one standing.
The Dunleavy administration has concealed the existence of the $225 million target that was to go to three firms and the role of the governor’s office in allowing it to happen.
The Dunleavy administration recently unloaded the DigitalBridge investment at a loss of $800,000.
Crum claimed his $225 million plan was about investing money to “bring together three world class infrastructure investors to bring financial returns and attention to the state of Alaska.”
The law firm has redacted the names of the other two companies. According to information that was not redacted, one of them appears to be Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative investment manager. The other company appears to be Isquared Capital, founded by Morgan Stanley executives in 2012.
Here is the full WilmerHale report.
The law firm said that Crum’s “deviations from the non-routine investment protocol, overall lack of diligence during the investment process, and other issues raise significant concerns about whether he met his statutory fiduciary duties.”
The Dunleavy administration recently unloaded the Digital Bridge investment at a loss of $800,000.
Legislators received the WilmerHale $350,000 review of Crum’s behavior Monday.
While it says that Crum did not break the law or engage in self-dealing, it’s a damming report both for Crum and his former boss, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who should have known what Crum was doing. The latter point is not mentioned by WilmerHale.
Crum also gave profiles of DigitalBridge and the other investment partners to the governor’s office in advance.
On another issue, Crum misled legislators and concealed his plan to make long-term investments with short-term money in a letter on June 27.
The law firm appears to contradict itself about Crum following the law as it says that Crum did not follow a state rule that says a department can’t hire an attorney without consulting the attorney general. He hired a law firm last spring.
The law firm says Crum and Deputy Commissioner Fagil “Limani sought agreement from each fund manager that they would pay for portions of the Department of Revenue’s legal fees incurred in connection with the transactions, though the law firm’s engagement letter is clear that the State of Alaska is ultimately responsible for the fees.”
Dunleavy and his staff failed to ask questions and failed to demand answers when they were told about Crum’s plans.
“Mr. Crum periodically updated the governor’s office and received support for the general concept. However, the governor’s office did not direct Mr. Crum to pursue the investment,” WilmerHale says.
Put another way, Dunleavy refused to stop Crum from trying to redirect $225 million away from the Constitiuotional Budget Reserve that may be needed soon and allowed him to try to lock it up for many years.
Crum, who is running for governor, did not get expert advice on the investments he chose and ignored the reality that the money should have remained in cash or a short-term investment. The Dunleavy plan has been to spend all of the CBR in the next few years.
Crum did not inform legislators, the Division of Legislative Audit, or the Office of Management and Budget in the governor’s office of his decision, the report says.
He claims it would have been an abdication of his statutory authority to let others know what he was doing. That is absurd.
Crum, who is no expert in finance, should never have been appointed by Dunleavy as revenue commissioner or confirmed by the Legislature. State law requires that the revenue commissioner serve as one of the six trustees of the Permanent Fund, but that experience hardly makes him an authority.
The report says that he pushed this investment in the months before quitting his state job.
“In June 2025, Mr. Crum asked the Treasury staff to review three proposed investments—private funds managed by DigitalBridge and the two other fund managers he (Crum) previously selected. The Treasury staff indicated that they would not have sufficient time to do a full analysis of the investments and questioned the utility of such a review given that it appeared that the investments had already been selected,” the report says.
“They ultimately agreed to review a limited set of materials and provide general impressions. In the limited assessment, the Treasury staff identified potential issues related to the DigitalBridge fund and one of the other two funds. On multiple occasions, including in connection with this limited review, Treasury staff also expressed concerns about investing a portion of CBRF assets in ill-liquid private equity investments.”
“On August 7, 2025, Mr. Crum informed the OMB about the investment via a call. On the same day, the governor’s staff became aware that the DigitalBridge contract had been signed following notification from the OMB. On August 8, 2025, Mr. Crum’s last day in office, he provided to Treasury staff and others completed non-routine investment protocol checklists for each of the three private equity infrastructure funds, a more detailed version of the document he had provided to the governor’s staff prior to their June meeting regarding the ARTIC program, and other documents related to the investments.48 After Mr. Crum left office, the Acting Commissioner of Revenue who succeeded Mr. Crum decided not to proceed with the contemplated investments in the two funds that are not managed by DigitalBridge.”
The handling of this investment by Crum and the lack of supervision deserve a legislative inquiry. The law firm recommends a series of changes in regulation and practice.
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