This isn’t the first time (and won’t be the last time) that a contribution to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff’s campaign fund is followed by questionable activity. The latest allegations of impropriety involve  a computer consulting company called DigitalBridge.

On September 29, 2008, AG Shurtleff wrote a letter on his office’s letterhead to the National Association of Attorneys General, endorsing the services of DigitalBridge and providing the company’s contact information. This doesn’t sound like a big deal unless you consider that on September 18, 2008, DigitalBridge made a $10,000 contribution to Shurtleff’s campaign.

Mark Shurtleff denies any impropriety, but it’s a little hard to believe him when one examines his past behavior related to campaign contributions which appear to be more properly termed bribes.

There’s the recent situation of a lucrative case awarded to law firm Siegfried & Jensen, which has contributed almost $60,000 to Shurtleff’s campaigns over the last eight years. There were no bids offered for the legal work, just proposals which Shurtleff reviewd.

Mark Shurtleff has also received significant contributions from the payday lending industry, which he has supported.

There was the criminal fraud and racketerring case of Marc Sessions Jenson, for which Mark Shurtleff is accused of bringing the charges as a personal favor to donor (and alleged victim) Ricke White. White’s wife gave Shurtleff’s campaign a total of $6,500 in the two years before the charges were brought.

Then there’s Shurtleff’s endorsement of multi-level marketing company Usana Health Sciences.

And of course, there’s the time Shurtleff wrote an untrue letter to Patrick Byrne (CEO of Overstock) about Sam Antar, who graciously provided free training to Shurtleff’s office. That letter followed a $5,000 campaign contribution by Overstock, and the letter was used in conjuction with an Overstock.com press release to smear Sam.

And there’s Shurtleff’s wholehearted support for the multi-level marketing industry, with MLM companies coincidentally contributing $231,000 to Shurtleff’s campaigns between 2003 and 2007, and another $65,500 in 2008 alone.

Shurtleff claims these are all coincidences. Have you ever seen a politicians with so many coincidences with similar characteristics? If it walks like a duck…

8 Comments

  1. Barbara 12/01/2008 at 10:29 am - Reply

    Too bad nothing will be done about this. It will just continue till he is no longer AG.

  2. […] Utah’s Attorney General (Mark Shurtleff – email:[email protected]) is another politician – by research you’ll quickly see that unless his feet are held to the fire, he acts in his own interests (you can Google him to find out what he’s been up to, hint – it has something to do with who donates to his campaign…) […]

  3. Anonymous 12/10/2009 at 12:11 pm - Reply

    Too bad internet scams continue because the bigges internet scammer of all (Jeremy Johnson with iworks or ravenmedia) is being protected by the AGs office. Too bad no one wants to look into Shurtleff because he is like the head of the mafia.

  4. Julie 02/17/2010 at 1:45 am - Reply

    Shurtleff and the AGs office may be able to protect Jeremy Johnson in Utah, but his despicable activities have spread way beyond there. Those of us who don’t live in Utah are not scared of these trumped up power mongers. We’re gonna get him and justice will be served. Just think about it – he’s ripped off hundreds of thousands of people by now; we’re very angry, we’re uniting, and we’re out for blood.

  5. Victoria 05/08/2010 at 8:32 am - Reply

    The Trib has an article about preying on ignorant Mormons. http://www.sltrib.com/Business/ci_14993866 The AG himself is a Mormon on top of all the fraud. This guy is a rascal and I feel blessed that I run into him on my way to the temple.

  6. Craig Hansen 05/10/2010 at 11:07 am - Reply

    “This guy is a rascal and I feel blessed that I run into him on my way to the temple.”

    I’m not sure what this is supposed to mean, unless you’re driving your car when you run into him?

  7. […] Back in 2008, I wrote several articles about the suspicious activities of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. Specifically, I questioned the campaign contributions her received from Pre-Paid Legal Services (now Legal Shield), a company that I suggested was a thinly veiled pyramid scheme. I also criticized campaign contributions from Overstock.com.  Then there was the whole thing with DigitalBridge. […]

  8. […] There's more from The Fraud Files […]

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