The New Mexico Educational Retirement Board has received two grand jury subpoenas, the agency acknowledged Friday.

The acknowledgment came in a letter in which the agency denied a request by the Independent to get a copy of any subpoena sent to the agency by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

“As of the date of this letter, the ERB has received two grand jury subpoenas issued by the United States Attorney, District of New Mexico,” reads the letter from agency counsel Christopher  Schatzman.

The agency cited the New Mexico Supreme Court to deny the Independent’s request for the records, saying that the court had offered guidance that there may be “circumstances under which information in a public record can be justifiably withheld”.

It was unclear Friday whether the two subpoenas the agency has received are related to same investigation. Schatzman confirmed two weeks ago that the agency had received a subpoena, but would not discuss the contents of subject matter.

It was unclear Friday when the second subpoena had been sent to the agency.

Federal prosecutors also have subpoenaed documents from the State Investment Council related to investments.

Both the Educational Retirement Board and State Investment Council have found themselves pulled into a widening scandal that began in New York with a criminal probe. So far two people involved in New Mexico investments over the years have pleaded guilty or been indicted on corruption charges in the New York probe.

Julio Ramirez, a California man who shared in placement fees related to New Mexico investments as a third-party marketer, has pleaded guilty to securities fraud in the New York criminal probe.

Meanwhile, the founder of New Mexico’s former financial adviser, Aldus Equity, also has been indicted in the probe.

Among the allegations against Aldus Equity’s founder, Saul Meyer, is that he 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.

State lawmakers also are questioning the more than $15 million that Marc Correra, the son of a friend of Gov. Bill Richardson’s, has shared in as a third-party marketer in dozens of state investment deals in recent years.

Third-party marketers, until recently, were obscure figures in the investment world who acted as matchmakers between private equity and hedge funds and states looking for a good return on their money.

Correra has not been accused of wrongdoing.

As part of the more than $15 million he shared in, a five-page document released by the Educational Retirement Board also suggests Correra earned $2 million on a controversial deal that cost the state $90 million in losses.

The deal in question involved $90 million in state investments by the Educational Retirement Board and the State Investment Council with Vanderbilt Financial Trust. Ultimately the state lost all the money it had invested with Vanderbilt, and those losses are at the center of a whistleblower suit filed last year by the ERB’s former investment officer.

Frank Foy has claimed a pay-to-play culture pervaded some of the state’s investment agencies, an allegation that the ERB and the State Investment Council and its officials have vigorously denied.

Recent lists made public by the State Investment Council and Educational Retirement Board shows that Correra earned fees for both Highland Park, Ill-based Ajax Investments and Santa Fe-based Cabrera Capital Markets.