In February 2007, Forbes magazine published an expose on the activities of Richard Moore, Treasurer for the State of North Carolina.  The article accused him, as the sole fiduciary over a State Retirement System containing $73 billion in assets, of engaging in a “pay-to-play” scheme or of accepting campaign contributions from dozens of financial firms that hoped to be selected as investment managers for the state pension fund.  See “Pensions, Pols, Payola,” Neil Weinberg, Forbes, Mar. 12, 2007.  (For more on the pay-to-play/pension fund kickback scandal in New York State and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s pay-to-play rule in its proposed form, see “What Do the Regulatory and Industry Responses to the New York Pension Fund ‘Pay to Play’ Scandal Mean for the Future of Hedge Fund Marketing?,” Hedge Fund Law Report, Vol. 2, No. 30 (Jul. 29, 2009); “How Has the New York Pension Fund Kickback Scandal Changed the Landscape for Placement Agents, and for Hedge Fund Managers who Use Them?,” Hedge Fund Law Report, Vol. 2, No. 17 (Apr. 30, 2009)).  The State Employees Association of North Carolina, Inc. (SEANC), a nonprofit corporation which protects the retirement interests of State employees, learned of the Forbes article, and requested all public records relating to these deals from the Treasurer under the North Carolina Public Records Act (the State equivalent of the Federal Freedom of Information Act).  After the Treasurer failed to fully comply with the request, SEANC filed a complaint that a state trial court dismissed.  On June 17, 2010, North Carolina’s highest court reinstated that complaint after finding that its allegations, if proven, would establish a prima facie case of a violation of the state Public Records Act.  We summarize the background of the action, the Court’s legal analysis and its implications for the types of hedge fund investment information that a third party can obtain from a public pension fund.