Bill Richardson's Awkward Link To Alleged Ponzi Schemer

Bill Richardson's Awkward Link To Alleged Ponzi Schemer - 11.19.2009 , Class Action News, Class Action, Securities News, shareholder class action, claim, litigation, securities action, common stock'>

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Bill Richardson's Awkward Link To Alleged Ponzi Schemer
Nathan Vardi

www.Forbes.com. November 19, 2009
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EXCERPT: Hassan Nemazee is a longtime Democratic moneyman who has raised campaign donations for folks like President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Last August Nemazee was arrested and later accused of perpetrating a $292 million Ponzi scheme in which he created bogus collateral to borrow from Bank of America, Citibank and HSBC, causing his political friends to return his money or send it to charity. Nemazee pleaded not guilty to the bank fraud charges, but it may be unsettling for New Mexico citizens to now learn that a New York firm that Nemazee partly owns has a four-year contract to manage $200 million of New Mexico public money. And both before and after the firm Carret Asset Management got the contract in 2007, Nemazee and others connected with it gave campaign contributions to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. The contract with the State Investment Council, which oversees $12 billion in trust funds from oil and gas leasing fees, has so far yielded $1.7 million in fees for Carret. In July 2006, about the time Carret started trying to secure the New Mexico business, Nemazee contributed $5,000 to Richardson's gubernatorial campaign. A month later, a company run by Alan Quasha, who has been the co-chair of Carret and longtime business partner of Nemazee's, gave $20,000. Two years later, in late 2008, Nemazee, Nemazee's wife, Quasha and two other top Carret employees, contributed a total of $11,500 to Richardson's presidential campaign. By then Richardson had dropped out of the primary race, but his campaign committee was raising cash to pay off debts. Nemazee had been national finance chairman of rival Hillary Clinton's campaign. Nemazee's lawyer declined to comment. But Quasha was blunt. "We did not pay to play," he said, meaning the contributions had nothing to do with Carret's New Mexico contract.

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