Ex-numismatic association director under investigation

The Economic Crimes Division of the 4th Judicial District Attorney's office is investigating Christopher Cipoletti, the former executive director of the American Numismatic Association, senior deputy district attorney Robyn Cafasso said Friday.

"The investigation could lead to charges being filed or charges not being filed," Cafasso said, declining to give further details about the investigation. "Everyone is innocent until proven guilty."

The DA's office began reviewing information it received on Cipoletti about eight weeks ago to decide whether to open a criminal investigation, District Attorney Dan May said.

Cipoletti said Friday he was unaware of the investigation.

In 2007, the Economic Crimes Division examined about 3,600 such inquiries, of which 277 were investigated, May said. Of those, criminal charges were filed on 253.

The DA's action comes after four years of legal proceedings involving Cipoletti and the ANA, a federally chartered association for coin collectors headquartered in Colorado Springs.

Last month, the ANA filed an addendum to an existing lawsuit involving nonpayment of fees to a Denver law firm that represented both Cipoletti and the ANA in another lawsuit initially filed in 2005. The 2005 lawsuit was settled last year.

The recent addendum accuses Cipoletti of civil theft. The new documents filed May 19 in 4th Judicial District Court claim that while Cipoletti was employed by the ANA, he intentionally took, misappropriated or converted monies belonging to the ANA, used ANA resources for personal benefit, double-billed travel expenses, personally accepted money that was to be paid to the ANA for services, billed private clients using ANA time and resources, and misrepresented the status of his vacation and sick time.

Cipoletti refuted the claims Friday.

"I certainly didn't steal anything. I didn't cheat. I didn't commit fraud," he said. "This is another step in the ANA's effort to absolutely destroy me and my reputation."

The ANA's allegations stem from findings that surfaced during an arbitration regarding Cipoletti's employment contract, said Larry Shepherd, who took over as the ANA's executive director in March 2008.

"There were certain things that we knew and certain things that came to light as we did our investigation, and we feel we have an obligation to our membership to disclose those," he said this week.

Documents resulting from an arbitration, an alternative form of resolving disputes, typically are not public record. But because the ANA added the information as supporting documentation to an existing lawsuit, it became public.

Cipoletti, an employment attorney who has specialized in representing nonprofit organizations, started working for the ANA in 1997 as an attorney and became the organization's general counsel in 1998.

He became executive director in 2003 and continued to serve as its general counsel.

On Oct. 15, 2007, the ANA board voted to terminate Cipoletti with undisclosed cause during a closed meeting at its local headquarters.

Cipoletti contended the board had no cause to fire him and requested arbitration to decide whether his employment contract, which was to end Dec. 31, 2008, should be honored.

He earned about $338,000 annually, according to the ANA's 2006 tax forms.

In his Feb. 5, 2008 demand for arbitration, Cipoletti sought to recover $52,529 in vacation pay, $112,790 in accrued sick leave and $48,400 in deferred compensation, according to court documents.

But the results of the arbitration, released last week, were in favor of the ANA on most issues, Shepherd said. Whether Cipoletti should pay fees associated with the arbitration, including legal fees of the ANA, is yet to be determined.