SANTA FE, N.M. — Former Speaker of the House Brian Egolf and his wife, Kelly, are at the center of a lawsuit. It claims the Egolfs were in a fraudulent scheme that cost their investors nearly $4 million.

The lawsuit states Kelly – as the manager and CEO of New Mexico Fresh Foods and CEO of Verde Juice – lied to investors for months while they allegedly schemed to move the assets of that company to another newly formed company.

The lawsuit claims Kelly’s representations and statements to investors concerning New Mexico Fresh Foods were wrong and misleading. It also claims that New Mexico Fresh Foods was not doing well financially and borrowed funds from a bank to help with the burden.

The suit claims the Egolfs used a company they owned – called Invictus Unlimited – to then buy the troubled assets of New Mexico Fresh Foods from that same bank.

Investors are demanding they repay for the damages and attorney fees, as well as the full amount the investors paid into the venture.

Mark Baker, the attorney for the Egolfs, shared the following statement:

“This is a frivolous case and the plaintiffs know it. The claims are based on a story Dan Perry (who controls Rowdy Investments), Bob Vladem and the other plaintiffs invented to try to embarrass my clients. The plaintiffs decided to kill New Mexico Fresh Foods, and they used their power to do it. Now they want to blame Kelly and Brian Egolf for events the plaintiffs caused by their own conduct.

Kelly and Brian are known in Santa Fe and throughout New Mexico as people of the highest character, integrity, and honesty.  While they have worked to help New Mexicans every day, Dan Perry and Bob Vladem have a history of selfish conduct that hurts our state: Dan Perry spent huge sums of money fighting to prevent locals from accessing public waters because he wanted to keep our natural resources for himself, and Bob Vladem was more worried about getting his name on a museum in Santa Fe than preserving New Mexico’s cultural heritage.

The plaintiffs ignored the facts and decided to go ahead with a bad lawsuit, and now they will have to answer for the harm they caused the Egolfs and other New Mexicans who shared Brian and Kelly’s desire to see great local businesses succeed.”