Documents released by CalPERS show Buenrostro was aware of most of the fee arrangements between Arvco and its clients, which include giant New York private equity firm Apollo Management. In an earlier interview, Buenrostro said the fees were common knowledge at CalPERS.

The CalPERS probe is the latest twist in a multistate investigation that erupted when New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo charged two political operatives in an alleged scheme to sell access to the New York public pension fund. California Attorney General Jerry Brown and the Securities and Exchange Commission are also investigating placement agents.

In a statement read to reporters the day CalPERS announced its probe, Villalobos downplayed his influence: "Arvco does not make recommendations to CalPERS or any other investors. We introduce and present investment opportunities to them."

Buenrostro said investment decisions "were solely the purview of the investment officers. My only act was to listen to (fund managers), answer questions and introduce them to the investment staff. That's the CEO's job."

While he was CEO, Buenrostro accepted a $100 concert ticket and a $155 Kings ticket from Arvco employees, according to state records.

Separately, The Bee has reported that campaign contributions by several Arvco employees, though not Villalobos, to CalPERS board member Charles Valdes in 2005 are under investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission. Auditors found the donations exceeded state limits.

Villalobos first approached CalPERS as a placement agent in 1997, two years after leaving the pension fund's board, when he succeeded in winning a $100 million deal for Texas investment firm Hicks Muse Tate & Furst. Buenrostro was on the CalPERS board at the time but didn't become CEO until five years later.

The board approved the investment, making the rare decision to ignore the recommendation of CalPERS staff. Villalobos' activities were legal because he was more than one year removed from his Cal-PERS service.

Arvco now bills itself as "one of the five major private capital placement agents in the world."

Buenrostro said Villalobos offered his home for the wedding because the two had already been friends for at least 12 years.

Villalobos' home sits in a wooded residential development on a small hilltop overlooking the lake. It has an indoor pool.

The wedding featured a catered reception, disc jockey and cake, according to information provided to The Bee.

Buenrostro wouldn't say how much the wedding cost. At one point in the interview, he said he repaid Villalobos "almost all the expenses." Later in the interview, he said, "I think I paid for all of the expenses immediately after the wedding."

He added, "I think I reimbursed AJ for the expenses he may have incurred. I tried to be very careful about reimbursing AJ for the expenses incurred."

Yet Buenrostro said he never saw individual bills or an itemized list of costs. Instead, he relied on Villalobos to verbally give him a tally.

"He told me, 'You owe me so much,' I think," Buenrostro said. "I reimbursed him for it. It's been a long time, as I recall. Approximately five years ago." He wouldn't say if the reimbursement was made in cash or check.

He added that he didn't think Villalobos gave him and his wife a wedding gift.

Buenrostro, who joined Arvco in August 2009, said he announced his marriage to his executive CalPERS co-workers and introduced his new wife to them at an off-site working dinner shortly after the wedding.

He and Nevis separated in 2006 and divorced in 2008, court records show.

Call Andrew McIntosh, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 321-1215. Call The Bee's Dale Kasler at (916) 321-1066.