Colorado Supreme Court Justices Accused of Concealing Bribe (1)

An attorney and former head of the state judicial ethics board alleges that Colorado Supreme Court justices retaliated against him for trying expose their efforts to conceal a bribe.

Christopher S. P. Gregory says the justices engaged in a conspiracy to absolve themselves for their role in hiding information about a nearly $3 million bribe to a former state court official. Gregory says he lost his position as the executive director of the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline because of his whistleblowing efforts.

His 7-count complaint filed Thursday with the US District Court for the District of Colorado, names nearly 40 individual defendants including Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Philip Weiser, members of the state’s high court, the Colorado Judicial Discipline Rulemaking Committee and the director of the state Civil Rights Commission. Gregory seeks relief including money damages and his reinstatement as executive director.

Neither the office of the governor nor the attorney general immediately replied to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the state’s judicial branch declined to comment. A spokesperson for the civil rights commission declined to comment.

According to Gregory, the former chief of staff from the state court administrator’s office in 2019 received a nearly $3 million sole-source contract to provide leadership training services in exchange for her agreement not to release compromising information about the judicial department and justices.

He says the justices approved the award, and failed to tell state officials about it after the filing of anonymous hotline complaint about the chief of staff’s misconduct. And, Gregory says, public statements from the justices issued in 2021 show they were complicit in concealing information about the award from state officials.

The justices engaged in a scheme to suppress evidence of substantial criminal and ethical misconduct by retaliating against numerous whistleblowers, he says. They alsoallegedly conspired to censor and suppress Gregory’s constitutionally and statutorily privileged reporting of misconduct by wrongfully terminating him from his executive director position.

The Civil Rights Commission’s director allegedly abused her authority by preventing the consideration of Gregory’s administrative claims for discrimination and retaliation under state law, the complaint says. Other state entities, he says, have also intentionally ignored or suppressed complaints and requests for evaluation of judicial conduct.

Ingrid J. DeFranco, Brighton, Colo., and The Gregory Law Firm LLC represents the plaintiff.

The case is Gregory v. Colo. Judicial Discipline Rulemaking Comm., D. Colo., complaint 10/23/25.