Colorado Ethics Watchdog Files Complaint Alleging Receipt Of Secret Benefits By Public Trustees Indirectly Funded By Major Foreclosure Lawyer

In Denver, Colorado, The Denver Post reports:

• An ethics-watchdog group filed a complaint Wednesday charging the Pubic Trustee Association of Colorado with wrongly accepting contributions from companies and individuals it did business with, then using the funds to pay convention expenses at a Black Hawk casino.



• The Colorado Ethics Watch complaint was filed with the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission over allegedly improper payments the association accepted from the state's most prolific foreclosure lawyer and a company in which he holds an interest.



• The group alleges the payments violate state restrictions on public officials' accepting gifts and demands that either the trustees or their trade group pay it back.



• "Public officials can't set up a nonprofit to give themselves illegal gifts," Ethics Watch director Luis Toro said. "It is especially egregious when public trustees, who are responsible for fair operation of the foreclosure process, use a nonprofit to give themselves gifts that are ultimately paid for by a law firm and software business interested in the foreclosure industry."



• The association is a nonprofit group representing the state's public trustees, who are charged with impartially overseeing the foreclosure process.

For more, see Ethics group files complaint over contributions to Colorado public trustees.