Dianna K. Duran, New Mexico’s Secretary of State, currently faces a long list of charges that she has abused her office as Secretary of State. The charges against the Republican politician include the misuse of campaign funds, along with a separate charge for financial crimes from earlier in the year.
A new charge emerged Friday, as the New Mexico attorney general filed charges against Duran claiming she lied on campaign finance forms when she stated that Don Kidd, a banker in New Mexico, was her campaign treasurer. Kidd has denied involvement with Duran’s 2010 and 2014 campaigns.
In total, Duran faces 65 charges: 64 charges for fraud, money laundering and embezzlement, and one charge of identity theft.
Duran is a Republican, first elected in 2010. The charges filed against Duran claim that her financial schemes may have started the first year she campaigned, as that was the first year irregularities appeared in her financial disclosure forms.
Among the charges, investigators claim that Duran embezzled as much as $430,000 between 2013 and 2014 to reimburse herself for money she spent at casinos in the state.
Prosecutors are seeking to impeach Duran and damages equal to the amount she illegally gained, as much $500,000.
For more on this, read the report from the LA Times titled: “New Mexico’s secretary of state faces 65th charge: identity theft.“
