{"id":4827,"date":"2009-08-19T18:50:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-20T00:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/08\/prosecutors-allege-the-theft-of-millions-of-dollars\/"},"modified":"2009-12-10T08:21:22","modified_gmt":"2009-12-10T15:21:22","slug":"prosecutors-allege-the-theft-of-millions-of-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/08\/prosecutors-allege-the-theft-of-millions-of-dollars\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutors allege the theft of millions of dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vigil-Giron,Vigil-Giron and other defendants each face 50 counts in indictments issued today by grand jury <\/span><\/p>\n

Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron<\/a> and the others indicted today by a state grand jury each face 50 counts including money laundering, fraud, soliciting or receiving kickbacks and tax evasion in the alleged theft of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

The others indicted are lobbyists Joseph Kupfer<\/a> and Elizabeth Kupfer<\/a> and Armando Gutierrez, who headed the company Vigil-Giron hired to help the state implement a federal voter education program.<\/p>\n

Joseph Kupfer was a lobbyist for the secretary of state. Elizabeth Kupfer, his wife, was the administrative services director for the Attorney General\u2019s Office at the time in question.<\/p>\n

The 50 counts against each include:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Four counts of fraud over $20,000 or, in the alternative, embezzlement over $20,000.<\/p>\n

\u2022 11 counts of money laundering over $100,000.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Five counts of money laundering over $20,000.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Eight counts of tax fraud.<\/p>\n

\u2022 13 counts of tax evasion.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Four counts of making or permitting false public vouchers.<\/p>\n

\u2022 One count of soliciting or receiving an illegal kickback.<\/p>\n

\u2022 One count of offering or paying an illegal kickback.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Two counts of tampering with evidence.<\/p>\n

\u2022 One count of conspiracy.<\/p>\n

You can read the indictment against Vigil-Giron by clicking here<\/a>. The others aren\u2019t yet online, but are similar.<\/p>\n

Vigil-Giron has not returned a call seeking comment. Attorneys for Vigil-Giron and Gutierrez had little to say to the New Mexico Independent<\/a>. Elizabeth Kupfer did not immediately return a call seeking comment.<\/p>\n

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

The AG\u2019s investigation came after a federal audit<\/a> found severe mismanagement of federal Help America Vote Act<\/a> funds by Vigil-Giron\u2019s administration during the 2006 election cycle. Vigil-Giron, who left office at the end of 2006 because of term limits, says the audit is flawed and has repeatedly insisted that no wrongdoing occurred<\/a> on her watch.<\/p>\n

Vigil-Giron used federal funds to pay Gutierrez\u2019s firm $6.3 million for advertising and voter education work leading up to the 2006 election. The federal audit found that the company can\u2019t account for how more than $2 million of that money was spent.<\/p>\n

The indictments allege a wide-ranging scheme that\u2019s in some ways similar to the metro court scandal<\/a>. For example, according to the indictments, a $2 million voucher from the state treasury was deposited in the account of Gutierrez between Sept. 29 and Oct. 5, 2004. That voucher was based on a false invoice, the indictment states.<\/p>\n

Then, between Oct. 1 and Oct. 7, 2004, a $140,000 check from Gutierrez was deposited in the account of the Kupfers. Similar transactions occurred several times between 2004 and 2006, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, while Vigil-Giron is charged with soliciting or receiving an illegal kickback and offering or paying an illegal kickback just like the others, the indictments don\u2019t state that she profited financially from the scheme. The only bank transactions listed involve Gutierrez and the Kupfers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and the others indicted today by a state grand jury each face 50 counts including money laundering, fraud, soliciting or receiving kickbacks and tax evasion in the alleged theft of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[155],"class_list":["post-4827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-secretary-of-state-scandal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827","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=4827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}