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.
Texas-based Aldus Equity, New Mexico’s former investment adviser, appears to have drawn the interest of federal prosecutors, according to two federal subpoenas that have been made public by a state agency.
The subpoenas were released by the Educational Retirement Board on Thursday afternoon. They show that federal authorities demanded all agency contracts with Aldus as well as correspondence between the state agency and Aldus and any list of firms Aldus proposed that the ERB invest in.
Also of interest to authorities, according to the two subpoenas, were all “e-mails, including attachments, to or from (ERB chairman) Bruce Malott from Jan. 1, 2003 to the present.”
The subpoenas show the federal investigators’ interest in Aldus. Five of the 14 items enumerated in the two subpoenas mention Aldus, including a demand for any documents generated by Aldus Equity that are in the possession of the Educational Retirement Board.
The State Investment Council and the Educational Retirement Board fired Aldus as investment adviser earlier this year about the time Aldus’ founder, Saul Meyer, was indicted in an ongoing New York investigation involving pay-to-play allegations.
That New York inquiry has unearthed what that state’s attorney general has called questionable practices here in New Mexico.
Among the allegations were that Meyer 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 the New York criminal complaint.
At the time, the comptroller’s son, Dan Hevesi, was acting as a third-party marketer. Meyer was charged in the New York criminal probe.
The charges against Meyer have thrown into question whether Aldus – which as the state’s investment adviser was supposed to vet the safety and risk factor of state investments — had always acted in New Mexico’s best interest, officials said.
The subpoenas made public Thursday also show that beyond Aldus federal authorities cast a wide net into ERB’s investment activities.
In addition to Aldus-related documents sought, federal prosecutors used the subpoenas to demand any contracts between the Educational Retirement Board and “any firms, individuals, or entities investing funds or providing investment advice to or on behalf of the ERB.”
Documents listing brokers, placement agents or third-party marketers associated with those investment firms were also demanded.
Third-party marketers, once obscure figures in the investment world who act as matchmakers between private equity and hedge funds and states looking for a good return on their money, have been prominent in New Mexico news lately, mainly because of the millions of dollars paid out to them, including $16 million that the son of a friend of Gov. Bill Richardson has shared in over the course of several years.
Of that $16 million, Marc Correra — who is the son of Anthony Correra, a friend and fundraiser for Richardson – received $2 million for an investment that ultimately soured and cost the state its original investment of $90 million.
Correra’s name does not appear in the subpoenas.
The first subpoena, which the ERB received May 6, lists most of the demands for documents related to investments, third-party marketers and Aldus.
A second subpoena, faxed to the state agency May 27, sought only the “e-mails, including attachments, to or from Bruce Malott from Jan. 1, 2003 to the present.”
The ERB initially refused to release the subpoenas to media outlets that sought copies through a state public records law. But the agency reversed itself this week and released them to the New Mexico Independent and other media outlets.
“I was very well aware that the second subpoena requested my ERB e-mails before I requested ERB staff to reconsider their position (to not release the subpoenas publicly), and, from the beginning, I thought (the subpoenas and e-mails) should be disclosed,” Malott said Thursday afternoon.
“I am proud of our superb ERB staff for reconsidering their position on the subpoenas,” Malott added. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and I continue to believe the public’s right to see their government at work should never be marginalized.”
Malott declined to comment on whether he’s a target of the investigation.
The State Investment Council also has received a federal subpoena but so far has refused to make it public.
On Thursday, a spokesman for that agency had no comment on the ERB’s decision to release the federal subpoenas.
The governor’s office did not respond to an e-mail asking for a response to ERB’s decision.
The subpoenas show that ERB was commanded to appear with the documents before a grand jury June 9.
