{"id":4512,"date":"2009-04-30T00:25:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-30T06:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/04\/richardson-orders-termination-of-aldus-contract\/"},"modified":"2009-04-30T00:25:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-30T06:25:00","slug":"richardson-orders-termination-of-aldus-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/04\/richardson-orders-termination-of-aldus-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson orders termination of Aldus contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Governor also instructs the State Investment Council to suspend alternative investments until new policies are in place<\/span><\/p>\n

Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> has ordered the State Investment Council<\/a> (SIC) to terminate its contract with a company tied to scandal in New York and New Mexico and to suspend all investments in anything other than stocks and bonds, his office announced late Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The termination of the SIC\u2019s contract with Aldus Equity<\/a> follows an internal probe by the SIC into Aldus\u2019 dealings in New Mexico and the FBI\u2019s questioning of state officials<\/a> about Aldus.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, we believe it is the most practical step for the investment office to take, given the realities of the current environment,\u201d State Investment Officer Gary Bland said in a release. \u201cPrivate equity is a critical asset class, and under existing circumstances, we feel it appropriate to forge ahead.\u201d <\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the SIC and Educational Retirement Board<\/a> (ERB) suspended their contracts with Aldus, which has handled billions of dollars in investments for the state. According to the news release, the SIC will begin looking for a new private equity adviser and, in the meantime, will work with other, existing financial consultants on private equity investments.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Richardson also ordered the SIC to halt what are called alternative investments — those in anything other than stocks and bonds — until \u201csweeping new investment policies\u201d Richardson is proposing are approved by the SIC, the news release states. Under the changes, the state would require its investment managers to disclose all placement fees, marketing arrangements and other payments made to third-party marketers who help them secure state contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past few weeks, several serious questions have been raised regarding the arrangements between the state\u2019s external investment managers and the marketers those investment funds pay to represent them,\u201d Richardson, who chairs and controls the SIC, said in the release. \u201cWhile this practice has been fairly common in the investment industry, the added potential for conflict of interests concerns me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richardson\u2019s proposed policy changes, which would apply only to the SIC, would expand on a bill<\/a> he recently signed that, beginning in June, will require disclosure of third-party marketers from companies seeking to do business with the SIC, ERB and Public Employees Retirement Association<\/a> on alternative investments.<\/p>\n

The history<\/span><\/p>\n

Aldus is involved in a scandal that has already led to indictments in New York and is growing in New Mexico. It\u2019s one of several firms that allegedly agreed to pay kickbacks in exchange for business with the state of New York\u2019s pension fund.<\/p>\n

Another firm under scrutiny is Quadrangle Group LLC<\/a>. The head of President Barack Obama\u2019s auto-bailout program, Steven Rattner<\/a>, was a managing principle in the firm until he left to take the government job in February. Though he hasn\u2019t been charged with any wrongdoing, Rattner has been identified by national media outlets<\/a> as the unnamed person in federal documents who allegedly arranged in late 2004 for Quadrangle to pay $1.1 million in exchange for business with the state of New York.<\/p>\n

Hank Morris is one of two men under indictment in the New York case. He\u2019s accused of using his position in that state\u2019s comptroller\u2019s office to shake down companies wanting to do business with the state\u2019s pension fund. Morris is accused of taking 95 percent of the money from Quadrangle as a kickback. He denies the allegations.<\/p>\n

Morris served as the third-party marketer who helped Aldus and Quadrangle win the investment deals in New Mexico. Rattner gave $20,000 to Richardson\u2019s gubernatorial campaigns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Governor also instructs the State Investment Council to suspend alternative investments until new policies are in place Gov. Bill Richardson has ordered the State Investment Council (SIC) to terminate its contract with a company tied to scandal in New York and New Mexico and to suspend all investments in anything other than stocks and bonds, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}