I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Albuquerque has subpoenaed documents from the State Investment Council, Bloomberg’s is reporting.
According to the story, the federal prosecutors asked for documents related to investment activities.
The story goes on to report:
The New Mexico Investment Council, which includes Governor Bill Richardson, received the request earlier this month, said spokesman Charles Wollman, in a telephone interview. He declined to describe the contents of the subpoena, issued by the U.S. Attorney in Albuquerque.
“We’re working to comply with the request of the authorities,” Wollman said. “We’ll be cooperating fully.”
The Justice Department has been investigating whether a California financial adviser was awarded $1.5 million in bond and interest-rate swap work in New Mexico in 2004 in exchange for $100,000 in donations to Richardson political committees. Richardson, who has denied wrongdoing, withdrew from consideration as U.S. commerce secretary following disclosure of the probe.
The State Investment Council has in recent weeks figured in a widening scandal that started in New York with a criminal probe of investment practices. That probe has exposed questionable practices in New Mexico that appear to have crossed the sometimes-blurry line between influence peddling and the legitimate service third-party marketers perform for money managers.
Among the allegations: the founder of New Mexico’s former financial adviser, Aldus Equity, helped the son of the New York state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, win a lucrative contract in New Mexico for a firm he was representing in return for Aldus’ increased business in New York, according to a criminal complaint. At the time, the comptroller’s son, Dan Hevesi, was acting as a third-party marketer in New Mexico. Aldus’ founder, Saul Meyer, was charged in the New York criminal probe.
Scrutiny in New Mexico also has centered around the more than $15 million that Marc Correra, the son of a Richardson friend, has shared in as a third-party marketer, or placement agent, in dozens of state investment deals in recent years.
Recent lists made public by the State Investment Council and Educational Retirement Board shows that Correra earned fees for both Ajax and Santa Fe-based Cabrera Capital Markets.
Correra has not been accused of wrongdoing.
But one California man who shared in some placement fees with Correra pleaded guilty to securities fraud in the New York criminal probe Wednesday.
Julio Ramirez shared in $1.5 million in placement fees in four New Mexico investment deals, two of those involving Correra.
State records show that Ramirez on two occasions over the years shared $700,000 in placement fees with Marc Correra, the son of a friend of Gov. Bill Richardson’s, and one other gentleman.
State records show that Ramirez shared $500,000 in placement fees with Correra on a $25 million investment in 2007 that the State Investment Council made with KH Growth (Vicente Capital). Ramirez shared another $200,000 with Correra and Robert Aguilar on a $10 million investment the Educational Retirement Board made with KH Growth (Vicente Capital).
