Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's investigation into the state and city pension funds—and how placement agents have been getting kickbacks for getting investment firms their business—is casting a wider net: Yesterday, his office issued subpoenas to 53 firms and 49 placement agents who are not licensed and registered as broker-dealers. Using an unlicensed agent could violate state and federal securities laws. Cuomo said, "The troubling pattern of unlicensed agents highlights yet another systemic weakness in New York’s pension fund, creating a situation which is fraught with peril and prone to abuse," and others states' pension funds are undergoing similar scrutiny. He is also concerned that politicians and lobbyists (who aren't registered) are trying to match up investment firms with pension funds; for instance, he has subpoenaed Patricia Lynch, a former top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver told PolitickerNY, "Ms. Lynch left my employ in 2000. Nine years ago. So I think there's a statute of limitations. I have not spoken to her about this or any of the other events, so I have no idea except for what I read in one of the daily newspapers today."