Anthony Correra

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.

A bill before the Legislature would focus more eyes on State Investment Council’s (SIC) cash register at a time the state agency already has attracted plenty of federal eyeballs.

Changes envisioned in the legislation include a lessening of the governor’s authority over the State Investment Council and a reduction in the portfolio of the agency’s top staff member — the State Investment Officer.

Political scandals, former elected officials getting indicted, electoral surprises and an occasional David toppling a Goliath–2009 had it all.

Gov. Bill Richardson’s office is being secretive … again.
According to a story in the Albuquerque Journal today by Mike Gallagher, the governor’s office won’t even say whether it has received subpoenas from a federal grand jury or the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding state investment business.
A bit of inconsistency is at play here, as Gallagher [...]

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.

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.

Both the Albuquerque Journal and the Associated Press are reporting that Marc Correra shared in $22 million in third-party marketer fees, a much larger total than the $16 million previously reported.

A lawyer for whistleblower Frank Foy has asked a state judge to hold Amanda Cooper — Gov. Bill Richardson’s former deputy presidential campaign chair — in contempt of court. At the heart of a motion filed Tuesday is a contention that Cooper hasn’t turned over subpoenaed records.

A spokesman for Gov. Bill Richardson informed NMI earlier today that the governor did not meet with the son of a friend and prominent fundraiser in the months leading up to the state’s decision to invest in a fund that ultimately cost New Mexico $90 million.

It’s been widely reported in recent weeks that Gov. Bill Richardson has a very close relationship with Anthony Correra, whose son, Marc Correra, shared in as much as $16 million in finders’ fees for winning investment companies big contracts in New Mexico.
In a weekend article, the Albuquerque Journal provides new insight into the close relationship [...]