The Oregon Department of Justice has concluded that criminal charges are not warranted in the liquor probe that shook Oregon’s alcohol agency last year. The investigation began in February 2023 to determine if employees of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission had improperly used their positions to obtain bottles of top-shelf bourbon for personal use. The department reviewed thousands of documents and emails, as well as conducted interviews with current and former commission employees and liquor store agents. While the behavior of the employees may have breached ethical standards, the department found no explicit policy prohibiting the specific conduct, and therefore did not have enough evidence to prove criminal offenses beyond a reasonable doubt.
Last year, news outlets obtained an internal investigation by the agency that revealed Executive Director Steve Marks and five other agency officials had diverted sought-after bourbons, including Pappy Van Winkle’s 23-year-old whiskey, for personal use. While the officials were paying for the whiskey, they had used their knowledge and connections at the commission to obtain them, depriving members of the public of the expensive alcohol. The internal investigation found that the officials had very limited bottles of top-shelf bourbon routed to a liquor store, often in the Portland suburb of Milwaukie, for personal consumption or as gifts. Marks denied violating Oregon ethics laws and state policy but acknowledged receiving preferential treatment in obtaining the whiskey as a commission employee.
The commission considered that the funneling of top-end whiskey to leaders of the state agency violated Oregon statutes, including one that prohibits public officials from using confidential information for personal gain. However, the subsequent investigation by the state justice department found that criminal charges were not warranted, as the nonpublic information used by the employees did not affect the value of the liquor bottles. Officials stated that charges of official misconduct were not warranted either, as there was no evidence to prove that the employees knew their actions were unauthorized. Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek thanked the justice officials who worked on the investigation and mentioned that the documents and reports resulting from the criminal investigation will be available to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission for consideration in its pending review of ethics complaints related to this matter.
Governor Kotek had called for the probe and requested Marks’ resignation, which he later submitted amid the investigations. While the investigation did not lead to criminal charges, it has provided valuable information for the ongoing civil investigation being conducted by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. The commission is charged with enforcing government ethics laws and will be reviewing the documents and reports from the criminal investigation to determine if any ethics complaints should be addressed. The state justice officials emphasized the importance of maintaining trust in state agencies, their leaders, and employees, and concluded that the behavior of the employees, while breaching ethical standards, did not meet the burden necessary for criminal prosecution. The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission will now have to reassess its policies and practices to prevent similar incidents in the future.
