Steve Terrell of The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the feds are “investigating a 2002 bond sale by the University of New Mexico as part of an investigation into possible violations of securities laws.”

The Bond Buyer, a daily financial publication, reported the feds interest in a Dec. 18 story. Writers Richard Williamson and Andrew Ackerman fit the interest in the UNM bond sale into a broader context. They wrote:

In a widening look at practices in the pricing of derivatives, investigators have subpoenaed records from more than 30 banks, insurance companies, and brokers involved in interest rate swaps and contracts to invest bond-sale proceeds.

In New Mexico, officials asked for records from the 2002 sale of $96.7 million of subordinate-lien system revenue bonds issued by the UNM Regents. The bonds were sold in two tranches, $96.7 million and $37.8 million, through negotiation with JPMorgan as senior manager with RBC Capital Markets and George K. Baum & Co. as co-managers.

The university confirmed that the records were subpoenaed but said it was not a target of the investigation.