Troubled State Treasurer

New Mexico’s state treasurer, Robert Vigil, will continue to collect his annual salary of $85,000 even though he stepped down after being charged with federal extortion.

Prosecutors say that Vigil and the state’s former treasurer, Michael Montoya, demanded kickbacks from financial advisors for steering state investment business through them.

Things are not looking good for Vigil because a corrupt businessman has already pleaded guilty to federal charges of aiding and abetting extortion and will testify against Vigil and Montoya.

The man, Angelo Garcia, has admitted to being the middle man between California investment advisor Kent Nelson, who supposedly gave kickbacks to Montoya and Vigil as the price of doing business with the New Mexico treasury.