Episode Details

Former Montana Senate President Jason Ellsworth just got convicted on misdemeanor charges for awarding $170K in no-bid contracts — a scandal that unfolded in the final days of December. The jury found him guilty after prosecutors exposed how he bypassed standard approval procedures, signing incomplete agreements then pushing them through for state officials to finalize. As head of the Legislative Audit Committee, he knew the rules — and broke them. The case also reveals a 20-year personal connection to Agile Analytics, the company that won the contracts — registered just weeks before the deals were presented. Ellsworth now faces up to six months in jail, following an earlier lifetime ethics ban from the Senate floor. The defense claimed the contracts were legitimate after modifications, but the jury saw it differently — and justice has spoken.

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