# Lawrence Berman National Managing Director, Corporate and Institutional Sales, Development Corporation for Israel. Referred to throughout the batch as "Larry." His biographical document was attached to the 4/11/2025 Milligan email confirming the 4/15/2025 in-person meeting at the State Capitol. The bio describes 28 years at DCI in the National Managing Director role, with cumulative DCI institutional sales of "more than $25 billion dollars from more than 500 customers" during his tenure, broken down as more than 200 banks, 115 state and municipal pension and treasury funds, and 50 insurance companies. Berman's personal attribution within those totals is "60 new pension and treasury funds totaling more than $10 billion dollars." Prior career: Director of Development at Boston University, Director of Major gifts at DePaul University, and an early career at United Way of America. Berman is named in Brady's 10/23/2024 outreach as "Larry," whose meetings with Fecher and White are "Larry's priority" for an Arkansas trip. He is then named explicitly as Larry Berman in the 4/11/2025 Milligan confirmation email. The materials do not document what was said at the 4/15/2025 meeting or who else from the Auditor's office or ATRS attended. Berman's institutional sales record per his own bio establishes that the Arkansas pension systems are one of an established sequence of 115 state and municipal pension and treasury funds DCI has sold to. The methodology of the Arkansas approach (Auditor's office as intermediary, in-person meeting at the State Capitol, follow-up with executive directors) is consistent with this scaled institutional outreach. The Spadoni custodian production substantially expands the documented Berman correspondence. Berman has had a personal working relationship with Auditor Milligan since Milligan's State Treasurer tenure per Brady's 4/7/2025 letter draft. The April 14-15, 2025 Capitol tour was Berman's second documented Arkansas trip (the first being in November 2024 per the original Brady outreach, though no positive documentation of that trip's actual occurrence is in the FOIA productions). For the April trip, Berman had eight scheduled meetings spanning both pension systems, both presiding officers of the legislature, the Treasurer, and two cabinet secretaries. Per Berman's 4/11/2025 reply to Spadoni: "Thanks so much to you and Jason for preparing this schedule for me and Brad. We are deeply grateful to you both and look forward to visting with you next week!" Berman's email signature in this batch shows a NYC office address (641 Lexington Avenue) and direct phone numbers (office 212.446.5817, mobile 646.319.3250). On the morning of 4/15/2025 at 8:23 AM, Berman forwarded the 12th Series Institutional Offering Rate Sheet to Spadoni, less than two hours before the 10:00 AM ATRS meeting. The internal DCI cover email from Luis Jimenez (Associate Director, National Sales) named Berman as one of three required institutional-sales reviewers ("all sales should be reviewed by Larry, Stuart or myself"). Berman's 4/16/2025 follow-up to Spadoni captures the trip outcome from his perspective: "Thanks very much Wendy for all your efforts and kind hospitality. We had an extremely successful and fun trip thanks to all the efforts made by you, Jason and of course the Auditor. We are extremely lucky and grateful to have such good friends." The Auditor's own R2 FOIA production (6/25/25) at [[auditor-foia-r2-jbrady]] documents Berman's previously-undocumented November 2024 Arkansas trip. Berman wrote to Carlos Borromeo (APERS CIO) and Ashley Golleher (APERS) on 11/7/2024 thanking them for "spending so much time with Brad and me on election day," confirming a Tuesday, November 5, 2024 in-person meeting at APERS. Berman also asked them on the same date for "a letter of introduction to the managers you think make best sense for our products." A 1/15/2025 follow-up reiterated the manager-introduction request. Borromeo's 2/12/2025 reply was procedurally cautious and did not provide personal introductions. Berman reports to DCI President and CEO [[dani-naveh]], whose family home was struck by an Iranian missile on 6/18-19/2025 per a 6/19 DCI marketing email also delivered to Brady. The 6/25/25 production confirms that DCI continued sending sales material to Brady after the ATRS Board action, including the Naveh-strike message and the 6/17/2025 Ambassador Leiter Operation Rising Lion briefing. The continued sales pressure demonstrates DCI treats the Auditor's office as an ongoing institutional client relationship, not just the conduit to a one-time pension purchase. ## R2 residual sub-batches: Election Day 2024 Treasury-coordination request and the Brad Young handwritten thank-you card The four residual sub-batches at [[auditor-foia-r2-residual]] add two findings about Berman. First, **Brady's coordination of Berman's November 5, 2024 Election Day Arkansas trip extended to a requested Treasurer meeting**. The Brady-Burleson iMessage at 10/28/2024 11:29 AM documents Brady asking Treasury Deputy Kenneth Burleson whether Treasurer Thurston could give Berman "a five minute hello / handshake and photo visit" on Election Day, plus whether Burleson and Bill Huffman could give Berman 30 minutes. The text cross-confirms that "Larry Berman and a regional team member" (i.e., Berman and Brad Young) were the Israel Bonds delegation in Arkansas on Election Day. The 10 AM ATRS meeting with Mark White and 1:30 PM APERS meeting with Carlos Borromeo Brady documents in the text are cross-confirmed by Spadoni's undated planner page (per [[wendy-spadoni]]). Whether the requested Thurston/Huffman/Burleson Treasury contacts actually occurred on Election Day is not documented. Second, **Brad Young's handwritten thank-you card on DCI letterhead documents the personal-relationship cultivation Berman and Young pursued with Milligan after the Election Day trip**. The card (scan_Redacted - undated card to Dennis.pdf), addressed "Dennis" and signed by Young (Executive Director, Southeast Regional), thanks Milligan for "warm and wonderful hospitality during Larry and my trip to Little Rock." The card's "we will keep you posted" framing on Israel Bonds sales and "It is critical to our success and to Israel's future" personal-relationship framing extend Berman/Young's documented engagement strategy from the email-channel evidence at [[dci-promotional-pipeline]] into a physical-correspondence channel. The card dates to roughly December 2024 (Christmas/New-Year framing) and explicitly anticipates the April 14-15 Capitol tour Berman/Young attended. ## Peterson custodian production additions The Peterson custodian production ([[auditor-foia-r2-stacy-peterson]]) documents Berman's pre-pension-outreach active institutional relationship with the Auditor's office. On 10/7/2024 3:48 PM, sixteen days before Brady's 10/23 pension outreach to Fecher and White, Stacy Peterson (Director of Communications, APR) emailed Berman directly under subject "A message from Arkansas Auditor Dennis Milligan" with Milligan BCC'd. Berman replied at 4:50 PM the same day with the entire DCI senior leadership cc'd: Dani Naveh (DCI President & CEO), Stuart Garawitz, Shiri Stern, Ethan Behling, and Bradley Young. Berman's reply: "This is a wonderful message, Stacy. I will reach out to the Auditor directly, but please let him know how deeply we appreciate his support and friendship. He is truly one of a kind, and we are forever grateful to him and your whole team." The "support and friendship" framing and Berman's deference "we are forever grateful to him and your whole team" indicate an established institutional relationship, not a first contact. The cc list — DCI President & CEO Naveh plus the three named institutional-sales reviewers (Berman, Garawitz, Jimenez per [[luis-jimenez]] from the Spadoni batch, with Behling and Young also in this thread) — documents that Berman treated the Auditor's-office solidarity outreach as a senior-leadership-level event warranting full DCI executive visibility. Shiri Stern is a new DCI staffer name introduced by this cc list. See [[october-2024-israel-solidarity-operation]] for the broader Auditor's-office October 2024 Israel Solidarity campaign that Peterson designed. ## Evidence > "Larry Berman has spent 28 years as National Managing Director of Corporate and Institutional Sales at Development Corporation for Israel. During his tenure at Israel Bonds, the firm has sold bonds to more than 200 Banks, 115 state and municipal pension and treasury funds, and 50 insurance companies. Total sales to institutional clients have totaled more than $25 billion dollars from more than 500 customers. Larry is directly responsible for selling 60 new pension and treasury funds totaling more than $10 billion dollars." > Berman bio attached to Milligan email, Emails3.pdf p.2, 4/11/2025 > "your meetings are Larry's priority" > Jason Brady to Amy Fecher and Mark White, Emails1.pdf p.1, 10/23/2024 > "Mr. Larry Berman, National Managing Director, and Mr. Brad Young, Executive Director - Southeast Regional Office on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. in my office located in room 230 of the State Capitol" > Dennis Milligan to Mark White, Emails3.pdf p.1, 4/11/2025 > "Thanks so much to you and Jason for preparing this schedule for me and Brad. We are deeply grateful to you both and look forward to visting with you next week! Have a great weekend, thanks again Wendy....and Jason, a million thanks my friend." > Lawrence Berman to Wendy Spadoni, April 11, 2025 - 4.pdf p.1, 4/11/2025 2:17 PM > "Thanks very much Wendy for all your efforts and kind hospitality. We had an extremely successful and fun trip thanks to all the efforts made by you, Jason and of course the Auditor. We are extremely lucky and grateful to have such good friends." > Lawrence Berman to Wendy Spadoni, May 16, 2025.pdf p.1, 4/16/2025 2:22 PM > "Thanks again for your kind hospitality, and for spending so much time with Brad and me on election day! I hope we were able to give you a better understanding of our firm and our products. We certainly appreciate you offer to introduce us to your fixed income managers." > Lawrence Berman to Carlos Borromeo and Ashley Golleher, Introductions.pdf p.1, 11/7/2024 > "We just received our institutional coupons for the new year, and I wanted to share them with your fixed income managers. I was hoping to meet with them in the next few weeks. I would deeply appreciate if you could send a letter of introduction to the managers you think make best sense for our products. I want to meet with them in person if possible." > Lawrence Berman to Carlos Borromeo and Ashley Golleher, Introductions.pdf p.1, 1/15/2025 > "This is a wonderful message, Stacy. I will reach out to the Auditor directly, but please let him know how deeply we appreciate his support and friendship. He is truly one of a kind, and we are forever grateful to him and your whole team." > Lawrence Berman to Stacy Peterson (CC: Dani Naveh, Stuart Garawitz, Shiri Stern, Ethan Behling, Bradley Young), RE A message from Arkansas Auditor Dennis Milligan.pdf p.1, 10/7/2024 4:50 PM (16 days before Brady's 10/23/2024 pension outreach) ## Cross-References [[brad-young]] DCI Southeast Regional ED who attended the 4/15 meeting with Berman [[reams-asset-management]] selected manager for the ATRS mandate [[jason-brady]] [[dennis-milligan]] Auditor's-office hosts of the meeting [[mark-white]] ATRS executive director who attended [[auditor-as-dci-channel]] [[dci-promotional-pipeline]] concept pages [[wendy-spadoni]] Berman's primary day-of-trip contact at the Auditor's office [[luis-jimenez]] DCI Associate Director who named Berman as one of three institutional-sales reviewers [[john-thurston]] [[brian-evans]] [[les-warren]] [[bart-hester]] [[daryl-bassett]] [[jim-hudson]] additional Arkansas officials Berman met on the April tour [[auditor-multi-official-capitol-tour]] concept page on the eight-meeting Capitol tour [[carlos-borromeo]] [[ashley-golleher]] APERS officials Berman met with on November 5, 2024 election day [[dani-naveh]] DCI President and CEO above Berman in the org chart [[stacy-peterson]] Director of Communications whose 10/7/2024 outreach drew Berman's same-day reply with the full DCI senior leadership cc'd [[october-2024-israel-solidarity-operation]] concept page on the pre-pension-outreach campaign that drew the documented DCI senior-leadership response [[kenneth-burleson]] [[bill-huffman]] Treasury Deputies Brady text-coordinated with for the November 5, 2024 Election Day Berman trip [[atrs-foia-r1-staff-emails]] [[auditor-foia-r1-spadoni]] [[auditor-foia-r2-jbrady]] [[auditor-foia-r2-stacy-peterson]] [[auditor-foia-r2-residual]] [[apers-foia-r1-7-7-25]] source pages ## APERS R1 production additions (7/7/25) The 7/7/25 APERS R1 production adds three Berman findings. First, **the 4/17/2025 Berman thank-you to Amy Fecher confirms a $20M post-meeting Treasurer purchase**. After the 4/14/2025 9:00 AM APERS meeting at Spadoni's State Capitol Room 230 office, Berman emailed Fecher 4/17/2025 1:48 PM: "Many thanks again for meeting with us earlier this week. Brad and I truly enjoyed visiting with you, and we deeply appreciate your time and willingness to review our paper. ... The State Treasurer made another significant investment ($20M) in our bonds after our meeting with his team this week, and we certainly hope that we can bring APERS on board as well. Please let us know how we can assist you as you and your team complete your due diligence." The email cross-confirms the Treasurer's $20M post-Capitol-tour purchase that brought the State Treasurer's office to $55M in Israel Bonds total. The "review our paper" framing references the State of Israel Economic Overview February 2025 PowerPoint Berman attached. Second, **Berman emailed Borromeo a fresh institutional rate sheet at 3:13 PM on 5/15/2025 — about two hours after the IFSC meeting that authorized $25-50M in Israel Bonds**. The rate sheet "May 15th – May 31st 2025 Institutional Rates.pdf" was attached. Berman's framing: "I wanted to share our new rates with you for your review. I believe the 3-year showing the best spread vs the benchmark UST coupons. These current rates are good until June 1, which would be the wire date to purchase any of these products." Borromeo replied at 3:19 PM. Stuart Garawitz and Bradley Young were cc'd. Berman replied at 3:31 PM. The exchange documents real-time DCI–APERS coordination on rate confirmation immediately around the IFSC authorization vote. Third, **the APERS-custodian capture of Berman's standard November 7, 2024 thank-you to Borromeo and Golleher** (already in the wiki via the Auditor's-office Brady custodian batch) is now confirmed in APERS-custodian record alongside Ashley Golleher's reciprocal 11/6/2024 12:39 PM thank-you to Berman, providing the second side of the bilateral Election Day correspondence. > "Many thanks again for meeting with us earlier this week. Brad and I truly enjoyed visiting with you, and we deeply appreciate your time and willingness to review our paper. ... The State Treasurer made another significant investment ($20M) in our bonds after our meeting with his team this week, and we certainly hope that we can bring APERS on board as well." > Lawrence Berman to Amy Fecher, IB_FOIA_MAY_25_Reviewed.pdf p.589, 4/17/2025 1:48 PM > "I wanted to share our new rates with you for your review. I believe the 3-year showing the best spread vs the benchmark UST coupons. These current rates are good until June 1, which would be the wire date to purchase any of these products." > Lawrence Berman to Carlos Borromeo, IB_FOIA_MAY_25_Reviewed.pdf p.31, 5/15/2025 3:13 PM ## Treasury R1 7-7-25 production: Berman's direct Treasurer's-office channel back to 2023 The Treasury R1 batch documents Berman's parallel direct DCI channel into the Arkansas Treasurer's office, distinct from the Auditor's-office channel. Three documented relationship-tiers across three Treasurer eras: **Walther era (Aug 2023 - Jan 2025).** Berman's documented Treasury relationship begins with the 11/1-11/2/2023 wire-pending troubleshooting on the Walther $10M purchase. Berman directly emailed Steve Pulley (Senior Investment Officer) on 11/1 1:58 PM with deadline pressure ("If not received today, have to cancel the transaction"). The wire ultimately cleared at 3:04 AM 11/2; Berman thanked "Celeste, thank you Steve, for all your efforts and for this important investment." Berman corresponded with Pulley and Celeste Gladden as direct contacts. **Walther-Thurston transition (Dec 2024 - Jan 2025).** Berman emailed the Treasury team on 12/23/2024 about the $10M Israel Bond maturing 1/1/2025 (the Milligan-era 1/1/2020 11TH JUBILEE FIX 10Y position): "As we discussed when Brad and I were in town last month" — confirming a Brad Young-Berman November 2024 Arkansas trip with Treasury-side meetings. Berman recommended January 15 reinvestment over January 1 maturity ("with the administration transition happening on January 1, the 15th is probably an easier date for everyone"). Berman wished Pulley personally Happy New Year on 12/31/2024 12:25 PM with full DCI staff cc. **Thurston era (Jan 2025 onward).** Berman scheduled the 4/15/2025 Capitol meeting directly with Sandra Blount (Thurston's Executive Assistant) via 4/2/2025 11:32 AM exchange, independent of the Auditor's-office channel. Berman emailed Pulley directly on 4/16/2025 12:06 PM with the rate sheet pitch ("I just talked to Bill Huffman, and he told me you were planning to bring the portfolio up to $55M") — documenting Berman's direct telephonic relationship with Bill Huffman in advance of the formal email pitch. **The channel structure.** Berman has documented direct lines to Steve Pulley (Senior Investment Officer, since 2023), Celeste Gladden (wire operations, since 2023), Bill Huffman (Chief Deputy Treasurer, by April 2025), and Sandra Blount (Executive Assistant to Thurston, by April 2025). The Auditor's-office channel (Spadoni-Brady-Milligan) is therefore one of two DCI institutional-sales pathways into Arkansas state government, the other being Berman's direct Treasurer's-office relationships dating from the Walther era. **Berman's deadline-pressure mode.** The 11/1/2023 wire-pending message ("If not received today, have to cancel the transaction") and the 5/15/2025 Borromeo rate-sheet message ("These current rates are good until June 1, which would be the wire date") establish a recurring pattern: Berman creates artificial transaction-deadline pressure that aligns DCI's monthly issuance cycle (1st and 15th) with target customer decision-making. The deadline-pressure pattern is documented across both the Walther 2023 transaction and the APERS 2025 authorization. [[treasury-foia-r1-7-7-25]] source page [[steve-pulley]] direct Berman correspondent at Treasury since 2023 [[celeste-gladden]] direct Berman correspondent on wire operations since 2023 [[bill-huffman]] direct Berman correspondent on $55M target-setting [[sandra-blount]] direct Berman correspondent on 4/15/2025 Capitol meeting scheduling [[mark-ng]] [[bill-mulvey]] DCI Operations counterparts to Berman on the wire-pending and Book Entry threads ## Treasury R2 Sub-batch 3 (Communications binders): the operational role at depth The Sub-batch 3 alphabetized Communications binders (A-He, Hol-Is, Ja-Po) document Berman's role across approximately 14,335 lines of extracted email text covering 2018-2025. Full Sub-batch 3 documentation is at [[treasury-foia-r2-9-23-25]] under "Sub-batch 3: Communications binders." Berman-specific findings: (1) **Berman pre-reviewed and approved the 10/27/2023 Walther press release** before McKim circulated to internal Treasury team. McKim's 10/27/2023 2:55 PM internal email: "Larry was good with it too, just wanted me to send it to you all. I will run any changes by him as well." DCI exercises editorial pre-approval on Arkansas Treasury Israel Bonds public communications. (2) **The 2/3/2025 escalation pattern** documents Berman's operational mechanic for routing around Treasury investment-staff caution. When Pulley's 2/3/2025 12:23 PM response was non-committal, Berman went over Pulley's head 2 hours and 14 minutes later (2/3/2025 2:17 PM) to Burleson and Huffman with cover note "I wanted you to see Steve's response. Not sure exactly what's going on." Huffman's 2/4/2025 11:12 AM response — "Our office continues to be supportive of your program" — closed the moment of caution. Pulley placed the 4/16/2025 $20M Thurston order ten weeks later. (3) **Berman/Bradley Young November 2024 Little Rock visit (previously undocumented)** met Huffman and Burleson per Berman's 12/23/2024 11:09 AM ("when Brad and I were in town last month") and 4/17/2025 2:40 PM ("After meeting Bill and Ken on our earlier trip to Little Rock") references. (4) **Berman repeatedly disclosed Israel Ministry of Finance directives to DCI on what to sell and at what spreads** across five documented instances 2019-2025: 1/8/2019 ("Israel only provided us with $100M total"); 5/8/2020 ("The Israel Ministry of Finance has asked us to sell additional paper this quarter"); 1/15/2021 ("we will have to follow their mandate"); 12/23/2024 ("we have been speaking with the Ministry of Finance and they have been reviewing raising the spread"); 2/18/2025 ("extra spread for this period only on our 5- and 10-year bonds, an additional 15bps that they will be removing after this period"). DCI's pricing and issuance are operationally subordinate to Israel Ministry of Finance directives. (5) **The 1/7/2025 "exclusive briefing" pattern** documents direct DCI-Israel-government engagement with Treasury staff. Berman invited Pulley + Burleson + Huffman to a 1/15/2025 briefing with Israel's Accountant General Yali Rothenberg framed: "The timing is good with your bond up for reinvestment." (6) **Berman documented a personal Lowery engagement at SFOF.** Berman's 5/31/2023 email: "I did have a conversation with Treasurer Lowery at the SFOF conference before he became ill, and he indicated verbally to me that he liked the paper, and intended to reinvest our bonds as they matured." First wiki documentation of Lowery-era Berman-Treasury engagement. (7) **Pulley's first documented Berman contact (10/17/2023 10:00 PM after-hours)** preceded the inaugural Walther-era $10M order by seven days. Berman called Pulley from a Newark Airport layover 10/18/2023 10:37 AM after returning from Ireland. (8) **Brady's 12/19/2018 reciprocal spread-acknowledgment** to Berman's holiday note: "We can't wait to get some Israel Bonds only a couple of hundred bps above UST benchmarks .... Ha ha ha :)". Berman's reciprocal "thanks again Jason for all your help in 2018, your counsel and insights were invaluable" framing established Brady as substantive Berman-Treasury liaison. (9) **Berman's New Orleans home base** (per 1/21/2021 email "open invitation to visit Rose and me here in New Orleans! Y'all welcome anytime!" — wife Rose). Brady's 11:58 AM follow-up: "Larry … keep working on that 'southern' draw my friend. : )" — establishing the playful relational pattern. (10) **The September 2021 Brady-Romanik-Gladden-Milligan NYC trip to DCI** was September 26-30, 2021. Berman couldn't attend ("I'm really sorry to miss you on this visit") and connected Brady to Ana Torres ("perhaps the best employee in the history of Israel Bonds!") for coordination with Stuart Garawitz. Israel Maimon (then DCI President & CEO) "would be happy to meet with the Treasurer." Brady's 8/11/2021 framing characterized the trip as "annual visit to investment firm brokerage houses." Ambassador Ido Aharoni was discussed as a possible NYC visitor; Brady's earlier framing referenced "Salt Lake City" prior in-person Aharoni-Milligan meeting (likely SFOF). (11) **Berman pitched Israel Bonds spread analysis as analytical material 2/26/2025**: explicit basis-points-over-UST framing across 2-year through 10-year tenors. DCI provides Israel-Ministry-directed pricing as analytical material to state purchasers. (12) **Berman's 4/17/2025 thank-you to Thurston** confirmed the future Naveh visit plan: "I know our CEO Dani Naveh would like to thank you personally... I know Dani would like to travel to Little Rock as well in the upcoming months." (13) **The Hol-Is binder is essentially Berman's promotional inbox to Walther** — approximately 70 distinct DCI promotional emails to Larry W. Walther's Treasury inbox during his Treasurer tenure (August 2023 - January 2025), covering rate sheets, holiday greetings, security-event responses (Iran attacks, Yahya Sinwar elimination, Hezbollah strikes), and product pitches. Documents the standing DCI promotional engagement with Treasurer Walther beyond the discrete transactional pitches. [[treasury-foia-r2-9-23-25]] source page (Sub-batch 3 section) [[damon-dortch]] internal Treasury staff peer who articulated the institutional logic ("political statement... at the direction of the elected Treasurer") [[stuart-garawitz]] [[ana-torres]] [[marjorie-vaughn]] [[geoffrey-gross]] [[starlaszia-watson]] new DCI entities surfaced in Sub-batch 3 ## Treasury R3 2-19-26 production: Berman as cold-solicitor on the Feb 17 2026 Thurston purchase The Treasury R3 (2-19-26) production documents Berman's role on the second Thurston-era Israel Bonds purchase. The R3 production extends Berman's documented Treasury counterparty activity through February 2026. ### The 1/14/2026 cold solicitation — maturity-event-anchored with explicit upsell pitch Berman's 1/14/2026 2:31 PM email to Pulley (cc John Thurston, Kenneth Burleson, Bill Huffman, Bradley Young), Subject "Maturing Bond Feb 1-$5M," is Berman's first documented contact with Treasury in 2026. The pitch follows two operational patterns visible across the documented record: (a) **Maturity-event-anchored solicitation** framed around the 2/1/2026 $5M maturity of the 8th Institutional Jubilee CUSIP 46514TZG6: "The State has a $5M Bond maturing on Feb 1 which we are hoping you will reinvest." The pattern parallels Berman's 4/16/2025 12:06 PM pitch to Pulley + Huffman, which similarly bridged the 5/1/2025 $7M maturity with the new-purchase pitch. (b) **Explicit upsell invitation** in the closing paragraph: "If you are interested in buying the next bond in book entry form to avoid the extra paperwork, I'm happy to discuss that with you. Additionally, if you wanted to add funds to this maturity, we would of course be more than happy to discuss that as well!" Treasury accepted the upsell — Pulley's same-day acceptance committed to a $10M new purchase (doubling the $5M maturity proceeds), producing +$5M deployment on top of the maturity rollover. ### Pulley same-day acceptance and the Jimenez delegation Pulley accepted approximately 2 hours and 12 minutes after Berman's 2:31 PM solicitation. Berman's 4:43 PM reply (cc the full chain) explicitly delegated operational-detail execution to Jimenez: "If you have any questions on the redemption process or the book entry process for purchases, please reach out to me, or better, Luis Jimenez copied above, as he's the real operations expert in our office as you know!!" This is consistent with Berman's 1/21/2021 11:55 AM Brady-Milligan correspondence ("I likewise will get out of the way and leave our side of the transaction to our experts, Luis. Bill, and Brad"). The Berman-as-senior-relationship / Jimenez-as-operational-detail delegation pattern is durable across the 2021 Milligan-era transactions and the 2026 Thurston-era transaction. ### The 1/22/2026 follow-up push Berman's 1/22/2026 11:20 AM email to Pulley (cc Huffman, Burleson, Young, Jimenez) followed Treasury's overnight-forwarding of the maturing certificate to Computershare: > Now that the cert has been forwarded, I wanted to follow up on the Feb 1 reinvestment. Can we answer any questions or assist you with paperwork in any way? We deeply appreciated your review and continued investment in our paper. Looking forward to building our partnership. > Redacted communications.pdf, Berman to Pulley, 1/22/2026 11:20:26 AM The 8-day follow-up push tracks the operational pace by which DCI moves a verbally-committed order toward formal documentation. Jimenez's formal order-confirmation email followed 11 days after Berman's follow-up. ### Second-instance institutional pattern: Berman cold-solicitation as durable The Feb 2026 transaction documents that Berman's cold-solicitation-based new-purchase pathway is durable across two Thurston-era purchase events. The May 2025 transaction was Huffman-pre-conversation-target-mediated ("you were planning to bring the portfolio up to $55M"); the Feb 2026 transaction was Berman direct cold-solicitation to Pulley without documented pre-conversation Huffman target-setting. Berman's institutional pattern of cold-solicitating Treasury staff at maturity-event-anchored decision windows produces new purchases without requiring elaborate pre-conversation political coordination. The Feb 2026 turnaround (2h 12m from pitch to acceptance) is faster than the May 2025 turnaround (~4 hours from pitch to order), consistent with the institutional pattern hardening into routine. [[treasury-foia-r3-2-19-26]] source page ## Auditor R3 3-3-26 production: post-vote Brady-Berman direct correspondence The Auditor R3 production at [[auditor-foia-r3-3-3-26]] captures the first documented post-vote Brady-Berman direct correspondence. Brady's Sent-Items contains `The Arkansas times article` (Sat 7/12/2025 6:54 AM CDT), Brady to [email protected]. The body is the bare Arkansas Times URL plus "Sent from my iPhone": > *https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2025/07/11/arkansas-taxpayers-are-loaning-israel-millions-of-dollars-as-its-war-in-gaza-grinds-on* > > *Sent from my iPhone* Brady forwarded the published Lenow article to the DCI National Managing Director within 15 hours of publication. No substantive commentary, no documented Berman reply in the production. The forward is informational — Brady alerting DCI to the Arkansas Times coverage that surfaced the Pulley HOLD memo and Brady's APERS IFSC "ancillary reason" framing for the first time in public reporting. The personal relationship-driven character of the channel (Spadoni R1 batch: Berman's "Jason, a million thanks my friend" closing) is operationally durable through the post-vote period. ## ASHERS production: Berman's declined-pitch outreach to a non-Auditor-channel pension system The ASHERS production at [[ashers-foia-r1-3-27-26]] documents Berman's 4/17/2025 1:02 PM pitch email to ASHERS Executive Secretary [[robyn-smith]], routed through [[andy-babbitt]]'s 4/16 introduction email. The pitch is structurally identical to Berman's documented ATRS/APERS engagement pattern: warm introduction language ("I look forward to connecting with you soon. I may be coming back to Little Rock in the next month or so, and if that happens, I hope we can visit in person"), Zoom-or-phone-call offer, and the APPROVED PPT 2.6.25 JH.pdf institutional pitch deck as the attached substantive material. Berman's verbatim closing: > "So please let me know if prefer to chat by phone or by Zoom, and what day in the next week or two works best for you. I'm very grateful for your review and time Robyn and look forward to connecting with you in the next couple of weeks." > Berman to Smith, RE_ Virtual Introductions.eml, 4/17/2025 1:02 PM CDT Smith did not reply. The production captures no Berman re-engagement, no DCI follow-up, no Berman Little Rock return-trip with Smith on the schedule. The thread terminated at Berman's single pitch reply. Berman's documented operational pattern across the Auditor's-office-channel pension systems involved sustained pre-meeting in-person bilaterals, follow-up thank-you emails, manager-introduction requests, and continuing post-vote sales engagement; the ASHERS thread documents the same opening move (warm introduction + pitch deck) without the sustained follow-up that produced ATRS and APERS adoption. The non-engagement decline mechanism documented at [[ashers-declined-pitch-control-case]] is operationally distinct from Berman's documented adopting-system engagement pattern. The structural finding: Berman's same opening pitch produces categorically distinct outcomes depending on the routing channel. The Auditor's-office channel (Brady-orchestrated, Milligan-mediated, deep-personal-relationship-anchored) produces sustained Berman re-engagement and eventual adoption; the DFA channel (Babbitt-mediated, no documented Berman-recipient prior relationship) produces single-pitch-and-terminate. Berman's institutional sales pattern is documented as channel-dependent: the same person executes the same opening move, but the followup-trajectory and outcome depends on the routing channel's institutional anchoring. ## Securities production: AR broker-dealer agent registration with four-year termination gap The Arkansas Securities Department FOIA production at [[securities-foia-r1-4-20-26]] documents Berman's Arkansas broker-dealer registration history at ASD-151: > "2919738 | BERMAN | LAWRENCE | ETHAN | 1/3/2007 | 12/31/2010 | 1/9/2015 reregister" > ASD-151_Registered-Broker-Dealer-Agents.pdf, page 1 Berman holds CRD #2919738. His Arkansas broker-dealer registration first became effective on January 3, 2007, was terminated on December 31, 2010, and was reregistered on January 9, 2015. The four-year termination gap (1/1/2011 through 1/8/2015) is the only documented termination gap among the six AR-registered DCI broker-dealer agents at ASD-151. The wiki's documented Berman correspondence with Arkansas state-government officials begins with Brady's 1/12/2018 first-documented Berman email at [[treasury-foia-r2-9-23-25]] Sub-batch 3 (the Milligan-era cumulative purchase pathway). The 1/12/2018 first-Berman-correspondence date is approximately three years after Berman's 1/9/2015 AR re-registration. The four-year termination gap (2011-2014) is consistent with no documented Berman Arkansas correspondence during that window across the wiki's productions; the earliest documented Berman engagement with Arkansas state officials within the wiki postdates his AR re-registration. The Milligan-era 2018-2021 cumulative purchase pathway operated under Berman's post-reregistration Arkansas authority. Berman's documented "since my time in the State Treasury when the Legislature allowed me to purchase bonds of Israel" personal-relationship framing (Brady's 4/7/2025 letter draft) is the senior-relationship anchor; the 2007-2010 AR registration period predates Milligan's 2015-2023 Treasurer tenure by 5-8 years. Whether Berman was AR-registered during the prior relationship-formation period (Milligan's pre-Treasurer Arkansas state-government engagement) is not documented by the production. Berman is one of three Arkansas-facing DCI principals carrying both an AR broker-dealer agent registration and the Direct Owners-filing-level engagement (the other two being [[brad-young]] and [[stuart-garawitz]]). [[securities-foia-r1-4-20-26]] source page [[dci-arkansas-limited-registration]] concept page on DCI's AR Limited registration scope under which Berman operates