DENVER – The Colorado Judicial Department has said that allegations of a $2.5 million contract given to a former department employee to prevent her from filing a sexual discrimination lawsuit are untrue.
Former State Court Administrator Chris Ryan had told The Denver Post that the contract he signed was aimed at stopping Mindy Masias from filing a lawsuit that would expose sexual misconduct she knew of during her 20-year career, the newspaper reported Friday.
Ryan had held the second-highest administrative job in the state’s court system.
But the Judicial Department issued a statement saying that it “categorically denies that the contract for leadership training was awarded to The Leadership Practice in June 2019 due to blackmail or to keep information about the department quiet,” said a memo circulated to the department’s employees and judges.
The Leadership Practice is the company Masias started in Jan. 2019, shortly before her resignation from the judicial department, the Post reported. Masias did not immediately respond Friday to an email seeking comment.
Ryan stood by his allegations when contacted by the Post on Thursday. He said that Masias was prepared to go public with allegations of misconduct by more than 20 judges and court officials.
“They’re trying to say it’s their word, the revered public servants, against me, the discredited public servant,” Ryan said about the department’s response. “They’re riding it for all its worth to evade any personal responsibility.”
The department and other parties related to the allegations were contacted multiple times by the Post but did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment.
