Jurors find former UNM Athletic Director Paul Krebs not guilty of two felonies

A jury found Paul Krebs not guilty Friday of two felony counts, suggesting that jurors agreed with the defense argument that the former University of New Mexico athletic director may have violated university policy, but did not commit a crime.

Krebs, 66, 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.

Krebs and his wife hugged and wept after 2nd Judicial District Judge Cindy Leos read the verdicts. Supporters of the longtime university AD clapped and cheered after the judge read the first verdict, prompting a rebuke from the judge.

“Excuse me, this is a court of law,” Leos said. “One more outburst and everyone will be cleared. We do not clap in court.”

Jurors deliberated for a total of about 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.

“In my heart I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong and I had faith that truth and justice would prevail,” Krebs said in a hallway outside the courtroom 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 UNM Athletics Department, the Lobo Club and the UNM Foundation.

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.

Prosecutors countered that Krebs committed embezzlement by using UNM funds in ways prohibited by UNM policies.

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.”

Krebs was indicted in 2019 by Torrez’s predecessor, former Attorney General Hector Balderas.

“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.”

Krebs’ wife, UNM professor Marjori Krebs, sat behind her husband and spoke with him frequently throughout the trial.

“The jury did what we hope our justice system does, which is hear both sides of the argument and come to the truth,” Marjori Krebs said after the trial. “We know what the truth is and the jury found it as well.”

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. Plans for the 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 this 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.

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.