Govt director of Oregon liquor company resigns amid scandal over uncommon bourbons

The chief director of Oregon’s liquor regulatory company introduced his resignation Monday amid a felony investigation into allegations that he and different senior officers used their positions to divert uncommon, sought-after bourbons for private use.

Oregon Liquor and Hashish Fee Govt Director Steve Marks famous in his resignation letter that Gov. Tina Kotek requested him to step down. He stated his resignation is efficient at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The resignation letter to the OLCC’s board of commissioners was first reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The liquor officers instructed an inner investigator they had been paying for the whiskey, which might value hundreds of {dollars} a bottle, however they’re accused of utilizing their data and connections on the fee to acquire the merchandise. Marks and the opposite officers denied they resold the whiskeys they obtained.

Lawyer Basic Ellen Rosenblum on Friday introduced a felony investigation into the allegations that senior officers within the state’s alcohol and marijuana regulatory company, which is the state’s third-largest income generator, violated ethics legal guidelines.

The funneling of the top-end whiskey to leaders of the state company disadvantaged well-heeled whiskey aficionados of the bourbons and violated a number of Oregon statutes, together with one which prohibits public officers from utilizing confidential info for private achieve, in line with the fee’s investigation.

The officers purportedly had very restricted bottles of top-shelf bourbon routed to a liquor retailer, typically within the Portland suburb of Milwaukie the place the fee headquarters is positioned, and would reserve them for pickup later. They stated they used the whiskey for private consumption or as items.

Throughout the OLCC inner probe, Marks denied that he had violated Oregon ethics legal guidelines and state coverage. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that he had obtained preferential remedy “to some extent” in acquiring the whiskey as a fee worker.

Marks has been the OLCC’s govt director since 2013, and earlier than that, he served as then-Gov. John Kitzhaber’s chief of employees.

The board of commissioners is appointed by the governor and in flip selects the chief director, in line with a fee spokesman. The commissioners’ subsequent common assembly is Wednesday.

The fee is charged with offering schooling about liquor and marijuana legal guidelines and imposing these legal guidelines. It additionally manages and distributes distilled spirits, and it licenses and regulates companies promoting and serving alcohol.