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.
Former New York Comptroller Alan Hevesi will plead guilty today to a single count of receiving award for official misconduct, the New York Times is reporting.
I wrote last week how a guilty plea by Hevesi might lead to repercussions in New Mexico.
Among the allegations listed in a criminal complaint issued by the office of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo last year were that the founder of New Mexico’s former financial adviser, Aldus Equity, helped Dan Hevesi, Alan Hevesi’s son, win a lucrative contract in New Mexico for a firm he was representing in return for Aldus’ increased business in New York. At the time, Dan Hevesi was acting as a third-party marketer.
Aldus’ founder, Saul Meyer, pleaded guilty to securities fraud last year in the New York criminal probe.
The question is, if Hevesi pleads guilty, what kind of cooperation, if any, will the former New York comptroller be required to give federal investigators currently looking at New Mexico’s state investment agencies?
The Times reports that Hevesi, citing people with knowledge of the case, is expected to cooperate in New York’s investigation. It says nothing about him cooperating with federal investigators, which doesn’t mean that kind of cooperation is off the table. Maybe the elder Hevesi has information. Maybe he doesn’t. Time will tell if such an agreement is struck.
The New Mexico connections to the New York probe are interesting, although no one in law enforcement has said they broke the law.
The younger Hevesi received $250,000 in third-party marketing fees related to one New Mexico investment deal through the New Mexico State Investment Council, state records show.
Henry, “Hank” Morris, one of Alan Hevesi’s most trusted aides who was charged with 123 counts in New York’s criminal investigation last year, received at least $150,000 in third-party marketing fees related to New Mexico investment deals, the documents also show.
The New York investigation has also turned up other curious and odd connections to New Mexico If Hevesi pleads guilty, he’d be the highest New York state official to plead guilty in that state’s long-running pay-to-play criminal investigation.
