LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner, who has faced questions about her management of state investments, was arrested for extortion Saturday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being held in Pulaski County Jail.
FBI spokeswoman Kimberly Brunell said Shoffner was arrested Saturday afternoon at her home in Newport and is scheduled for a federal court hearing Monday in Little Rock. Brunell said Shoffner was arrested on charges of extortion under color of official right under the Hobbs Act. Brunell said she would have more details Monday.
Online court records for the Eastern District of Arkansas didn't show any charges against Shoffner as of Saturday evening. Brunell and a spokesman for the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office said they did not know of an attorney listed for Shoffner yet.
Shoffner, a Democrat serving her second term in office, has faced questions over the past year about the way her office has handled state investments. Legislative auditors last year questioned Shoffner's selling of bonds before they matured, a practice that they said cost the state more than $434,000 worth of earnings.
The sale of the bonds early resulted in a net economic loss, with Arkansas losing earnings it would have made had Shoffner's office held on to the bonds, auditors said. The largest net loss, more than $783,000, came from eight transactions with St. Bernard Financial Services, Inc., a Russellville-based company where Shoffner's office has purchased the bulk of its bonds.
The Legislative Joint Auditing Committee in December voted to refer its review of 30 bond transactions by Shoffner's office to state and federal law enforcement. It was unclear Saturday whether Shoffner's arrest was related to that audit.
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