"[8] Villalpando's political profile also rose considerably when her skills and ethnicity were utilized in outreach efforts to attract Hispanics to the Republican Party.

[9] After two years, Villalpando left government service again and, in August 1985, took up the position of senior vice president – as well as partner and large shareholder – at Communications International, Inc. (CII), a Norcross, Georgia-based telecommunications firm.

Villalpando had developed a special talent for attracting Hispanics to the Party and, as a Bush ally, was expected to swing the support of the Assembly to his run for the GOP nod.

The probe revealed that Olivas, a friend of Villalpando when the two were on staff together in the Reagan White House where he was the speech-writer for the vice president, had also been soliciting prominent Hispanic Republicans to support her bid for the RNHA chairmanship.

RNHA co-founder Francisco Vega was one of those contacted and who confirmed to investigators that Olivas had called him from his government office while on work time, a potential violation of the Hatch Act.

[14] The same year, Villalpando initiated a special program to raise $37 million by selling commemorative coins honoring Mount Rushmore.

[16] In August 1992, Villalpando became embroiled in controversy over comments made by her and Commerce Secretary and Bush campaign manager Robert Mosbacher.

The comments concerned ongoing sex scandals and rumors surrounding Arkansas Governor and Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton and former San Antonio mayor Henry Cisneros.

Although both Bush and Villalpando issued apologies, Clinton campaign spokesman George Stephanopoulos called on the president to dismiss both officials.

[17][18] While still enveloped in the controversy surrounding her Clinton and Cisneros comments, Villalpando became the central figure in a criminal probe launched by the Department of Justice.

"[19] News of the investigation broke on October 29, the day after FBI agents raided several buildings and residences in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Georgia.

[7] According to Villalpando's notes, the $147,000 was listed as severance pay; however, no reference was made to it as required in the financial disclosure forms she submitted to the government upon being nominated.

Instead, the probe began to intersect with another criminal investigation ongoing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) over fraud and the improper awarding of federal contracts during the Reagan administration.

In May 1992, Villalpando was ordered to testify before a grand jury as well as produce certain documents related to that case involving HUD official Deborah Gore Dean.

Villalpando admitted to concealing "substantial funds and benefits", received by her from CII, information which was "capable of influencing the actions and judgments of those departments and agencies" tasked to evaluate her qualification for the post of U.S. Treasurer.

She further admitted that the conspiracy to conceal information was begun as early as March 1989, when she first learned that President Bush intended to nominate her for the post.

Villalpando also acknowledged that in July 1992, she asked her longtime acquaintance Olivas to destroy documents subpoenaed by the independent counsel in the Dean case.

[13] On February 18, 1994, Villalpando pleaded guilty to all three counts and was released pending her sentencing at which time she was expected to cooperate with ongoing probes into CII contracts and HUD in return for consideration.