Gary King
Recently, there have been calls for action by the attorney general to recover money and damages from questionable investment deals affecting New Mexico. It was reported that a State Investment Council subcommittee opined that I should “step up to the plate and file a lawsuit, or at least to take the lead in getting one going.”
For the record, and if I can keep the sports metaphor going for just a bit, I have been suited up and in the game for some time already, and while my team has scored more than 81 million points so far, the game is far from over.
I refer to the $81 million my office recovered for the state last year for our New Mexico clients (SIC, ERB, PERA and NMSTO) from corporations that fraudulently invested our money. These figures were reported by my office earlier this year, as were other settlements with Ernst & Young, Broadcom, and OppenheimerFunds.
Yet, I understand the frustration that many New Mexicans must feel over what is being done to help get their money back in other cases.
Let me assure you that my office continues to aggressively pursue civil and criminal actions regarding fraudulent activity involving state investments. Indeed, in cases where there is criminal activity, prosecutions are actively being pursued and jail time is being requested, along with recovering lost taxpayer money.
Even though it would be to my advantage to trumpet what my office is doing in these matters, especially in an election year, publicity is not what drives us. A successful outcome for our client matters most. My dad, Governor Bruce King often said, “You can get a lot done if you don’t care who gets the credit.” I agree.
Additionally, if am a little circumspect in what I say about our efforts to address these or any other alleged crimes, ethical and professional considerations prevent me from talking about investigations or pending actions, particularly before they are presented in court. And when people become a little antsy about investigations and prosecutions taking so long, remember that “quickly” might not always guarantee success.
Taxpayers will appreciate the results
One newspaper editorial said: “Pending lawsuits involve only a small portion of the SIC investments that may require litigation. If the Attorney General’s Office has the necessary expertise in-house to launch this kind of litigation, it needs to get started. If not, it needs to coordinate and help find outside counsel to do it.”
Again, it has not been a secret that the Attorney General’s Office has launched investigations and does use outside counsel with special expertise to pursue state investment cases. I am glad at least some people recognize how important such tools are to our efforts in recovering lost monies and determining damages to the state.
Even though the Legislature has not provided us with requested additional resources, we continue to aggressively prosecute financial market predators and those who help them.
We are especially interested in local accomplices who help raid the nest eggs of vulnerable New Mexicans. In statewide outreach efforts my office continually warns people to take extra precautions with their finances to avoid being fleeced of their savings; once the thieves have your money, it’s tough to get it back.
Another newspaper statement pronounced: “It’s time to move aggressively to try to get back money that was lost. After all, he’s the people’s attorney and it’s their money. They would like to see some action.” I agree with that statement and, even though some may not recognize our efforts, we have been moving aggressively on these matters for some time and getting back lost monies.
In the end, we are confident that taxpayers will appreciate the results of our actions.
King is New Mexico’s attorney general.