STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
BOSTON CITY Councilor Ricardo Arroyo has paid a $3,000 civil penalty and admitted to violating the conflict of interest law by continuing to represent his brother in a civil lawsuit against his brother and the city of Boston after he became a city councilor, according to ethics law regulators.
The State Ethics Commission announced Tuesday morning that Arroyo signed a disposition agreement in which he admitted to the violation. The commission said Arroyo “entered an appearance” as an attorney on behalf of his brother in the civil lawsuit prior to becoming a city councilor in January 2020, and then “did not withdraw from the case and instead continued to participate in it as an attorney, including in the deposition of a city of Boston employee.”
The commission noted that the state’s conflict of interest law prohibits municipal employees, including elected officials, from “acting as agent or attorney for anyone other than the municipality in connection with matters in which the municipality is a party or has a direct and substantial interest.”
“The law required Arroyo to cease acting as attorney for his brother in the lawsuit when he became a City Councilor,” the commission said in a press release. “While an appointed municipal employee may, with the approval of their appointing authority, act as agent or attorney for their immediate family member in a matter involving the municipality, this exemption is not available to elected municipal employees like Arroyo.”
The commission said its enforcement division contacted Arroyo twice in August 2022 regarding the legal concerns raised by his representation of his brother. A motion to withdraw from the lawsuit was filed on November 18, which was allowed on February 18, 2023, removing Arroyo’s name from the record, the commission said.
Arroyo was not the lead attorney and was not paid for his appearance or for any work related to the lawsuit, according to the disposition agreement.