Arroyo admits to conflict-of-interest violation, pays $3,000 fine

The state Ethics Commission reported yesterday that City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo (Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roslindale) has paid a $3,000 fine for not withdrawing as a lawyer, after his election, from the lawsuit his brother, former City Councilor and mayoral aide Felix Arroyo, filed against the city over his firing.

After being sworn into office, Arroyo 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.

Arroyo’s representation of his brother in the lawsuit involving the City of Boston while serving as a City Councilor violated the conflict of interest law’s prohibition against municipal employees, including elected officials, 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. 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 Enforcement Division of the State Ethics Commission contacted Arroyo twice in August 2022 regarding legal concerns raised by his representation of his brother in the lawsuit. A motion to withdraw from the lawsuit was filed on November 18, 2022, which was allowed on February 18, 2023, removing Arroyo’s name from the record.

Arroyo, who ran for mayor in 2013, then was appointed by winner Marty Walsh as chief of health and human services, sued the city and Walsh in Suffolk Superior Court in 2020 over his firing in 2017 over sexual-harassment allegations he claims are false.

The city had the case "removed" to federal court, where a judge dismissed Arroyo's charges of federal civil-rights violations, defamation, breach of contract and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The judge said Arroyo could continue his case for wrongful termination and "breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing," but said that because those are issues under state law, she sent it back to Suffolk Superior Court. Records there show the case remains active.