Trust Records Show Scholarships to Children of Ethics Commission Director Tom Albritton
Federal 990 filings show the Mabel Amos charitable trust, for which Alabama Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Albritton serves as a trustee, awarded scholarships to two of his children.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Two children of Alabama Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Albritton received scholarships from the Mabel Amos charitable trust, for which Albritton serves as a trustee, according to the trust’s federal Form 990 filings. Records reviewed show the Tom Albritton scholarships totaled $105,000 between 2014 and 2018.
What the Filings Show
The State Senate confirmed Albritton as executive director of the Ethics Commission in March 2015. That same year, according to the 990 records, two of his children each received $15,000 scholarships from the trust to attend the University of Texas.
The 2018 filing is the most recent available for the trust, so it is not known from the public records whether additional scholarship money was distributed after that year.
The Trust’s Terms
The trust’s governing language states that the trustee shall not engage in any act of self-dealing as defined in Section 4941(d) of the Internal Revenue Code and shall not make taxable expenditures. Section 4941(d) defines self-dealing by private foundations, and the will establishing the trust refers to a trustee as a “disqualified person.”
No Finding of Wrongdoing
No agency or court has made any finding regarding the scholarships, and the filings themselves do not establish that any rule was violated.
The Alabama Ethics Commission enforces the state ethics law covering public officials and employees. Albritton leads the commission’s staff.
