Former state Treasurer Robert Vigil used his elected office to expand his political power base, assistant U.S. attorney Steve Yarbrough told jurors during opening statements last week in Vigil's re-trial on federal corruption and racketeering.
Sam Bregman, Vigil's lead defense attorney, said the government twisted the facts to get the indictment against Vigil. Bregman said that envelopes of money Vigil was shown on videotape receiving from alleged accomplices were actually legal campaign contributions.
Vigil was arrested on the federal charges in September 2005, and he resigned his post in late October. His first trial ended in a mistrial in May.
The government charged that Vigil adapted a scheme set up in the 1990s by Michael Montoya, Vigil's predecessor as treasurer. Montoya pleaded guilty to the federal charges against him and currently is a witness for the prosecution. Brokerage firms that wanted contracts to invest the state's bond proceeds and tax revenues had to give something back from their earnings to get those contracts.
Montoya acted out of greed, prosecutors told the jury, but Vigil wanted to expand his political power base.
Vigil was elected treasurer in 2002. Before that, he served as deputy treasurer under Montoya.
