(INDIANAPOLIS) - New records obtained by the Indiana Capital Chronicle show Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales' office made a $90,000 payment from the state's Securities Restitution Fund to a software contractor and approved nearly $500,000 in annualized employee raises in 2025.
According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, the Secretary of State's Office paid $90,000 on May 6 to Maverick Quantum Inc., a Texas-based artificial intelligence and software development company. The payment came from Indiana's Securities Restitution Fund, which was created to provide partial reimbursement to victims of securities law violations.
State records reviewed by the Capital Chronicle indicate the payment is the only vendor disbursement made from the fund since at least 2020. Previous payments during that period were made to individual restitution claimants.
The payment followed an April contract amendment that expanded an existing no-bid agreement between the Secretary of State's Office and Maverick Quantum by approximately $1.368 million. The original contract, signed in January 2025, carried a maximum value of $1.15 million.
The Secretary of State's Office told the Capital Chronicle the $90,000 payment represented about four percent of the cost of a broader Securities Division technology modernization project and was allowable under the fund's administrative expense provisions.
Separately, salary records provided by the State Budget Agency show Morales' office approved $493,359 in annualized raises for 79 employees in August 2025. Most employees received six percent raises, while some workers received larger increases, including promotion-related raises exceeding 27 percent.
The raises increased the office's annual payroll to more than $6.1 million and came two months after lawmakers questioned agency spending during a State Budget Committee hearing.
Morales is seeking renomination as Indiana's Republican candidate for Secretary of State at the Indiana Republican Party convention on June 20.