Owner of K.C. Chiefs contests pay-to-pay allegations
The owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, sued in the fall by the State Investment Council over allegedly striking a pay-to-play deal with the administration of former Gov. Bill Richardson, has flatly denied the allegations in a document filed in state District Court and asked a judge to dismiss the complaint.
Clark Hunt, 53, the billionaire son of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, leaned on Richardson insiders Anthony and Marc Correra to win $300 million in state investments for a hedge fund in which he was a partner, the investment council claimed in its complaint filed in August.
But in more than two dozen affirmative defenses made through his Albuquerque attorneys, Hunt said the claims made by the state don’t hold up or are barred by numerous statutes and doctrines.
Hunt’s response to the allegations came in court papers last week after a monthslong legal tug of war over whether he had been properly served notice of the lawsuit by the state.
The investment council, responsible for managing about $21.5 billion in New Mexico’s public trust funds,
alleged the Hunt-connected hedge fund had received the allocation in spite of the council’s hedge fund adviser recommending no allocation be given.
Hunt and a business partner paid for the Correras’ influence over a former state investment officer to “tilt the selection process,” and the millions in management fees paid to the hedge fund enriched Hunt and the partner at the expense of New Mexico’s public trust funds, the lawsuit claims.
The hedge fund underperformed state benchmarks, according to the lawsuit, which said one of its investments lost the council more than $13 million.
A message left for Hunt’s Albuquerque attorney was not returned.
A spokesman for the State Investment Council said the council’s legal filings would “speak for themselves.” The case has been assigned to Judge Francis J. Mathew.