Louisiana Board of Ethics issues fines after $780,000 allegedly loaned to state official

Leaders with the Louisiana Oilfield Restoration Association were fined by the Louisiana Board of Ethics after allegedly giving a to a top official, according to records.

According to the Board of Ethics, LORA, its subsidiary Chromos Wealth Solutions and Andrew Berthelot, who served as a manager at Chromos and as LORA's chief financial officer, gave a loan to former Office of Conservation attorney Johnny Adams in 2023.

Adams previously helped organize the state's program with LORA and drafted the agreement between the conservation office and the new company.

LORA was created in 2019 to work alongside the Louisiana Office of Conservation on plugging abandoned wells using money from industry operators that bought financial security through the nonprofit, with LORA later hiring Chromos, which is operated by the same people, to manage the money.

LORA allegedly transferred $780,000 to Chromos, which made a loan of the same amount to Adams in 2022.

According to records, Adams allegedly used the money to buy a home and pay off the loan.

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Berthelot, LORA and Chromos were fined $5,000 each by the board.

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780,000 loan = 5k fine ?