WASHINGTON – Confidential documents show the former chairman of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority sought to limit an ethics investigation and prevent its findings from being made public.

The Washington Post reports Jack Evans’ actions are detailed in investigative documents obtained from WMATA’s ethics committee.

Records show Evans threatened the jobs of a board lawyer and secretary while trying to hide the findings of an ethics probe, which found he failed to disclose a profitable conflict-of-interest.

Evans’ lawyer, Mark Tuohey, says Evans never intended that anyone be fired. Clarence C. Crawford, who chaired the ethics committee, made the findings public at the request of state and local officials.

Evans resigned his transit job days later but remains a Washington, D.C., city councilman. Federal agents continue to probe his private consulting business.

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