A jury found Paul Krebs not guilty of two felony counts of embezzlement Friday, prompting cheers in the courtroom from supporters of the longtime University of New Mexico athletic director.
As reported by the Albuquerque Journal, the 66-year-old Krebs faced two counts of embezzlement in connection with a 2015 golfing trip to Scotland for large donors that ran into problems with poor attendance and financial difficulties.
Jurors deliberated for roughly four hours Friday morning before returning their verdicts after a four-day trial that featured a roster of top current and former UNM officials and more than three hours of testimony by Krebs himself, according to Olivier Uyttebrouck of the Journal.
“In my heart I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong, and I had faith that truth and justice would prevail,” Krebs said after his acquittal. “This was the outcome I prayed for. This whole ordeal has been hard on our family, but now I can get on with my life.”
The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, which prosecuted the case, offered jurors a detailed account of UNM policies governing the athletic department, the Lobo Club and the UNM Foundation. Prosecutors claimed that Krebs committed embezzlement by using UNM funds in ways prohibited by UNM policies.
Krebs’ attorney, Paul Kennedy, told jurors repeatedly that Krebs committed no crime because he did not benefit financially from the Scotland golfing trip, which Kennedy called an essential element of embezzlement.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the case highlights the need for changes in state law “so that the misconduct at issue in this case is comprehensively addressed.”
“While we are disappointed by the jury’s verdict, we are prepared to work with the legislature to make sure that this kind of activity is clearly and unambiguously prohibited under the law,” Torrez said in a written statement. Changes in law are needed to “reassure taxpayers that public resources are not used for private purposes or the interests of a privileged few.”
Related: All But Two Charges Against Ex-UNM AD Dropped Ahead of Trial
Krebs was hired in 2006 as UNM’s athletics director and vice president for athletics. He was the longest-tenured AD in Mountain West Conference history at the time he announced his retirement in 2017. By then, Krebs was embroiled in a scandal prompted by journalists who were probing the financial details of the golfing trip. He was indicted in 2019.
Related: Former New Mexico AD Indicted for Embezzlement
Plans for the golfing trip went awry when prominent Albuquerque attorney and UNM benefactor Turner Branch became ill and he and seven other participants dropped out as the trip approached, witnesses testified last week.
To fill empty slots, Krebs directed a Lobo Club employee to waive the $8,100 cost of the “ground package” for each of three large donors who agreed to pay their own airfare to Scotland, and he also directed staff to use UNM funds to cover the shortfall, witnesses said, as reported by Uyttebrouck.
Prosecutors also presented evidence showing that Krebs directed a payment of $13,625 from an athletic department “contingency fund” to pay the Lobo Club, the nonprofit fundraising arm of the athletic department, to cover a shortfall caused by the cancellations.
