Aldus Equity

An executive producer of a film shot in New Mexico and titled “Chooch” pleaded guilty Wednesday to securities fraud in New York. David Loglisci is the former chief investment officer for New York state’s pension fund and the first official from that agency to plead guilty in an ongoing criminal pay-to-play inquiry that has netted six [...]

The state Legislature on Thursday morning passed a bill that would reform the State Investment Council. The Governor has said he will sign the bill.

A special prosecutor hired by the New Mexico Attorney General would investigate and recover any money lost from state investment funds due to fraud under legislation that unanimously passed the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon. “I believe personally that we have $270 million to $290 million that are lost,” Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said. [...]

Gov. Bill Richardson will lose control of the State Investment Council while the State Investment Officer no longer could hire and fire fund managers under legislation that cleared the Senate on Friday evening. Senators voted unanimously after a short debate to dramatically re-structure how the Council (SIC) is governed.

Law firms in Albuquerque, New York City and Washington, D.C. have joined to file a class-action lawsuit against former New Mexico Investment Officer Gary Bland and members of the Educational Retirement Board, according to the Santa Fe Reporter.

An outside review of the State Investment Council recommends significantly reducing the governor’s power over the agency, the Albuquerque Journal reports today.
Gov. Bill Richardson’s influence over the State Investment Council “is more far-reaching than it is for governors in most of the 14 other states with similar funds,” the Journal reported, explaining one of the [...]

Another money manager with ties to New York and New Mexico state investment scandals has pleaded guilty to bribing state officials in New York in exchange for a $250 million investment from that state’s pension fund, the Albuquerque Journal reports today.

A legislative committee is scheduled to vote this afternoon on proposed legislation to strengthen oversight over New Mexico’s investment of taxpayer money.
One proposed bill before the Investments Oversight Committee would require all state funds that invest money to add seats to their respective boards, state Sen. Tim Keller said in a press release. State lawmakers [...]

Former State Investment Officer Gary Bland testified this fall before the federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as part of its own “non-public, fact-finding inquiry” into the investment scandal that is mushrooming, documents show.

Former State Investment Officer Gary Bland’s Wednesday resignation came after a private law firm hired by the State Investment Council (SIC) found that he had “pressured investment firms doing business with the state to hire certain third-party marketing or placement agents,” The Associated Press is reporting.
The AP was quoting state Land Commissioner Pat Lyons, a [...]

The state’s top investment officer has resigned amid a pay-to-play scandal that’s the subject of federal and state criminal investigations. Gary Bland resigned Wednesday in a letter to Gov. Bill Richardson.

An investment scandal that’s been plaguing New Mexico heated up last week when the state’s former investment adviser pleaded guilty to securities fraud in New York, admitting that he recommended deals that were not in the best interest of the state because they were pushed by politically connected individuals here. Now, it appears similar pay-to-play [...]

“The Governor’s Office is not aware of any activity outlined by the Attorney General of New York,” said spokesman Gilbert Gallegos about Saul Meyer’s guilty plea.

Saul Meyer admitted Tuesday to pushing certain deals to New Mexico’s two investment agencies as the state’s investment adviser because politically connected individuals here recommended them. He didn’t name names. But the guilty plea thrust another scandal onto the front burner in New Mexico, just after Gov. Bill Richardson and former staff members escaped criminal charges but not a cloud of suspicion.

Buried in Andrew Cuomo’s press release about Saul Meyer’s guilty plea to a felony is this blockbuster paragraph:
“In addition, from 2004 through February 2009, Aldus acted as an adviser to the New Mexico State Investment Council (“SIC”) and the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (“ERB”) in the State of New Mexico. Meyer admitted that on [...]