Walker Stapleton Omitted Blind Trust From Financial Documents

DENVER, CO -- By Corey Hutchins State Treasurer Walker Stapleton will be amending a financial disclosure form he filed with the state as part of his run for governor after The Colorado Independent questioned why the blind trust he said holds his assets was not listed on the form.

“We are filing a clarification,” said Stapleton’s campaign manager Michael Fortney following inquiries about the public document, which is called a personal financial disclosure statement and is required by candidates for state office in Colorado.

In question is Rocky Mountain Trust LLC, which incorporated after Stapleton, a political newcomer at the time, won office as state treasurer in 2010. Stapleton has said Rocky Mountain Trust is a “blind trust” – a tool some elected officials and others use to avoid potential conflicts of interest in their investments. The arrangements vary. In some blind trusts, the person who owns the assets is totally blind to what investments the trust holds. In others, they know what assets are, but are not involved with managing or making decisions about them.

As of May 25th, that trust also has been listed as delinquent since late February with the Secretary of State’s Office. Fortney said that likely means someone neglected to reregister it, an oversight he said someone with the trust would handle.

Stapleton’s campaign says despite Rocky Mountain Trust LLC not being mentioned on the form, it does exist and is the same one Stapleton has used since 2012, when he first reported it on his personal financial disclosures with the state. The Stapleton campaign will be sending a letter to the Secretary of State’s office amending the form to reflect that, Fortney said, adding, “Thank you for bringing that to our attention.”

“I set up the exact same structure that — because I actually talked with him about it — that John Hickenlooper set up when he became governor of Colorado,” Stapleton said in a recent interview with The Colorado Independent.

Read more at The Colorado Independent

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