Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration is currently facing so many scandals and controversies related to financial deals that you had to know, at some point, some of them might intersect.
That may have happened in the instance of Marc Correra, the son of a close friend of Richardson.
We already knew that Correra shared in more than $11 million in finders’ fees as a third-party marketer for financial companies that won business with the State Investment Council (SIC), thanks to a document the SIC released last month.
Now, as reported by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal, the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (ERB) has released its own document detailing finders’ fees paid to third-party marketers by companies that won business with the ERB. The document indicates that Correra shared in as much as another $4.2 million in finders’ fees that came from contracts with the ERB, according to the AP.
And here’s the intersection of scandals: As noted by the New Mexico Independent, Correra may have earned as much as $2 million from a controversial investment deal in which the state lost $90 million.
I’m referring to the lawsuit brought by Frank Foy on behalf of the state alleging that the SIC and ERB made investments with Vanderbilt Financial and affiliated companies in exchange for a little more than $15,000 in contributions to Richardson’s 2008 presidential campaign. In addition to the $40 million ERB investment, the SIC invested $50 million, and the state lost it all.
The ERB document notes that Vanderbilt is checking its records to determine who received the finders’ fee on those investment deals. But the document states that a Vanderbilt representative told an ERB employee that “Vanderbilt Capital Group paid Marc Correra $2 MM placement fee on the total $90 MM State of New Mexico investment.”
Correra, whose work on deals with the SIC was the focus of a recent article in the Journal, is the son of Anthony Correra, who, according to the Journal, “worked on the governor’s transition and served on the board of a Richardson political foundation.” In addition, Marc Correra’s wife “once served as Richardson’s international protocol officer,” the article states.
Correra is also one of the owners of a planned racetrack and casino in Raton. According to the Journal, the group has been awarded a license for the racing portion of the facility, but a gaming license has been put on hold.