The federal government announced Friday that that xAI filed earlier this month. The company alleges that Colorado’s rules, which seek to prevent discrimination by AI systems that have a consequential say in decisions like bank lending or education enrollment, violate the First Amendment because it requires xAI to “embed the State’s preferred views into the very fabric of AI systems.”

The suit also alleges that the rules are too vague and that they seek to regulate products outside of Colorado’s state boundaries. The company owns Grok, an AI chatbot, as well as the social platform X, formerly Twitter.

The regulations were passed nearly two years ago, but they have not yet gone into place. Their effective date has been delayed until June, but they may never kick in. The rules have been roundly criticized by both the tech industry and the groups seeking to regulate AI, and state lawmakers are preparing to take their third stab at rewriting them.

Legislation to pursue those reforms is expected in the coming days.

Still, the Justice Department has joined xAI’s suit, alleging that the pending rules are unconstitutional and that they “attempt to force discriminatory ideology on the AI industry,” despite their intent to stop algorithms from discriminating against students and job applicants.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to strike down the regulations.

Colorado officials have not yet filed a response to xAI’s initial allegations. Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for Attorney General Phil Weiser, declined to comment on the pending litigation Friday morning. He said the office would “do our talking in our court papers.”

A Manhattan federal jury deliberated for four days before reaching its decision Wednesday in the closely watched case, which gave fans the equivalent of a backstage pass to a business that dominates live entertainment in the U.S. and beyond.

“Live Nation is a monopolist and has abused its monopoly power to squeeze out competition, jack up ticket prices, stifle artists and make it harder for fans to see their favorite artists,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement.

The judge overseeing the trial told lawyers on both sides to meet with one another “and the United States” to provide a joint letter proposing a schedule for motions and how the remedies phase of the case would occur. He told them to deliver it by late next week.

The trial brought Live Nation , where he was questioned about matters including the company’s  in 2022. Rapino blamed a cyberattack.

The proceedings also aired a Live Nation employee’s  to another employee declaring some prices “outrageous,” calling customers “so stupid” and boasting that the company was “robbing them blind, baby.” The employee, Benjamin Baker, who has since been promoted to a position as a ticketing executive,  that the messages were “very immature and unacceptable.”

Live Nation Entertainment owns, operates, controls booking for or has an equity interest in hundreds of venues. Its subsidiary Ticketmaster is widely considered to be the world’s largest ticket-seller for live events. Its lawyers did not immediately comment as they left the courthouse, but said a statement would be issued shortly.

The verdict could cost Live Nation and Ticketmaster hundreds of millions of dollars, just for the $1.72 per ticket that the jury found Ticketmaster had overcharged consumers in 22 states. The companies could also be assessed penalties. In addition, sanctions could result in court orders that they divest themselves of some entities, including venues such as amphitheaters that they own.

The civil case, , accused Live Nation of using its reach to smother competition — by blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers, for example.

“It is time to hold them accountable,” Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney for the states, said in a closing argument, calling Live Nation a “monopolistic bully” that drove up prices for ticket buyers.

Live Nation insisted it����ap not a monopoly, saying that artists, sports teams and venues decide prices and ticketing practices. A company lawyer insisted its size was simply a function of excellence and effort.

“Success is not against the antitrust laws in the United States,” attorney David Marriott said in his summation.

Ticketmaster was established in 1976 and merged with Live Nation in 2010. The company now controls of 86% of the market for concerts and 73% of the overall market when sports events are included, according to Kessler.

Ticketmaster has long drawn ire from fans and some artists. Grunge rock titans Pearl Jam battled the business in the 1990s, even filing an anti-monopoly complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, which declined to bring a case then.

Decades later, the Justice Department, joined by Colorado and dozens of states, brought the current lawsuit during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration. Days into the trial, Republican President Donald Trump’s administration announced it was settling its claims against Live Nation.

The a cap on service fees at some amphitheaters, plus some new ticket-selling options for promoters and venues — potentially allowing, but not requiring, them to open doors to Ticketmaster competitors such as SeatGeek or AXS. But the settlement doesn’t force Live Nation to split from Ticketmaster.

A handful of the states . But more than 30 pressed ahead with the trial, saying the federal government hadn’t gotten enough concessions from Live Nation.

“State attorneys general stood strong and continued this case without the federal government because we believed that concertgoers deserved a fair trial and a fair deal,” Weiser said. “Live Nation is being held to account for violating state and federal antitrust laws, and I’ll continue to fight to break up their monopoly, restore competition and get money back for concertgoers.”

New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a release that the “landmark jury verdict in our case against Live Nation confirms what we have said since the start of our case: For far too long, Live Nation has illegally profited from its monopoly at the expense of hardworking New Jerseyans.”

“Live Nation’s illegal, anti-competitive practices have caused immense damage in our state, exploiting consumers by driving up the price of tickets and making it harder for fans to see their favorite artists,” she added.

New York Attorney General Letitia James called the verdict “a landmark victory in our ongoing work to protect our economy and New Yorkers’ wallets from harmful monopolies.”

After the victory, Kessler would not say specifically what the states will seek in the next phase of the litigation, which was expected to involve another lengthy proceeding with witnesses before penalties are decided on.

But he celebrated the moment.

“It����ap a great day for consumers. This case is a tribute to the 34 states and the District of Columbia who carried this case forward,” he said.

Like many providers around the country, UCHealth sent Houk to , an Englewood-based medical device company that manufactures and sells instruments used for pain management and rehabilitation.

When insurance didn’t cover the , Zynex promised Houk that she could make 10 payments of $25 to cover the cost. What the Westminster patient didn’t know was that this would kick off a year of fighting with a company determined to bill Houk and her insurance providers as often as possible.

The company billed her old insurance. It billed her new insurance. And it sent her bills for more than $2,000 for the $250 device, when she was already paying it off in installments.

“The billing was relentless and terrifying,” Houk said in an interview.

Houk was one of numerous Coloradans caught up in what federal investigators say was a years-long scheme by Zynex to oversupply medical devices and overbill patients seeking opioid-free pain relief. A federal grand jury indicted two former top executives in January, accusing them of orchestrating the fraudulent practices that netted Zynex nearly $1 billion. The company last month avoided further prosecution by admitting to participating in a conspiracy to commit health care fraud, securities fraud, mail fraud and other violations.

Former Zynex employees, in interviews with The Denver Post, said they felt uncomfortable following directives that were unethical or outright illegal. The company routinely fell behind on paying vendors, even as leadership touted rapid growth and record revenue. Staff said they were instructed to continue sending devices and supplies to patients, even when they didn’t request them. Executives told workers not to tell Medicare and Medicaid patients that they would be on the hook for the devices if their insurance didn’t cover them.

“It felt like that was poor business practice to essentially lie to your patients and scam them and create a bad reputation for the company,” said Cori Latousek, a former Zynex employee.

More than a dozen patients told The Post they received supplies that they didn’t order and didn’t need. The scheme has prompted a host of lawsuits from insurance companies and shareholders who say they were duped by Zynex.

At the top of the pyramid stood a chief executive officer who marketed the company’s work as the antidote to the opioid epidemic. Thomas Sandgaard started a to help fund alternatives to painkillers and on the opioid crisis. He was also known for driving expensive sports cars, playing guitar around the office and promoting himself at every turn, former employees say.

Zynex served as a Colorado startup success story — a one-man operation turned public company with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. This is the story about how it all fell apart.

Sandgaard, a Castle Rock resident, remained in federal custody as of late February, according to the U.S. Marshall’s Office. His attorney, when contacted by The Post, said he was no longer working on the case. Anna Lucsok, Zynex’s former chief operating officer, who was also indicted, is free on bond. Her attorney, Bill Leone, said, “the allegations in this indictment are just that — allegations. We look forward to vindicating our client at trial.”

Zynex, in a statement, said the company, in its deal with the Justice Department, “took responsibility for past business practices implemented by former company executives.”

“Our new management team is committed to the highest standards of integrity and compliance in everything we do, so we can better serve patients who can truly benefit from our prescription medical devices,” the company said. “We have completely broken from the past and look forward to closing this chapter and making an important contribution to the health care needs of Americans living with chronic pain.”

Rapid growth fueled by ‘moral conundrums’

Sandgaard, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Denmark, founded Zynex in 1996 after a career in the semiconductor, telecommunications and medical equipment industries. He positioned the company’s products as a safe alternative to opioids through the development of electrotherapy technology that alleviates chronic pain.

In February 2019, the company went public. Sandgaard that would help expand the Zynex team.

Rapid growth followed — and industry watchers started taking note.

The company ranked 13th in revenue growth among all medical device companies in the U.S. and Canada on Deloitte’s 2020 Technology Fast 500. Jim Cramer, the popular host of “Mad Money” on CNBC, in 2021 .

Zynex, in the first quarter of 2023, reported 36% year-over-year revenue growth. Orders increased 61%. The following quarter, revenue jumped 22%.

At the end of 2024, Sandgaard said his company hit , and he expected to see 10% to 15% growth in 2025.

“The company is built by our employees,” the founder said in a .

Privately, though, many of those same employees grew concerned over how Zynex was making its money.

Latousek served as a territory manager in Seattle, targeting physical therapy, pain clinics and surgery centers for business. The sales pitch: non-opioid pain management.

She recalled leadership instructing her not to tell patients who received the devices that they automatically get enrolled for supplies, such as batteries and electrodes. Many patients, as a result, she said, received charges that they didn’t authorize.

“That felt really sketchy,” Latousek said. “I would always tell my patients to make sure they opted out.”

Most of the time, Medicare wouldn’t cover the stimulation device or the electrodes. When Zynex dealt with these patients, staff said they told them it cost $250 out of pocket.

But in the spring of 2021, leadership changed the directive. Going forward, the policy was to not tell Medicare patients the cost if their insurance didn’t cover it, former employees said.

“We’re pretty much locking in older vulnerable people on Social Security or fixed incomes who don’t have much money,” said one former Zynex worker, who spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity because they feared career consequences for being associated with the company.

This led to constant “moral conundrums,” the former employee said. They recalled phone calls with elderly patients who said they couldn’t afford the device. Yet Zynex still found a way to send them the units, charging them $250.

When this employee brought up concerns from staff that they were taking advantage of people, they said they were let go.

“I never felt good,” the individual said. “Me getting fired was definitely a blessing.”

Former Zynex staffers said this occurrence was common: Workers who expressed concerns about the company’s practices would be fired or reassigned to different roles. As a result, few employees stayed for long, outside of top executives.

Meanwhile, Zynex was often late paying vendors, employees said. The company offered to pay half if it could receive some of the inventory — an arrangement that left workers feeling uncomfortable.

People in the buying department quickly grew alarmed that their supply orders for batteries and electrodes were so steady. Normally, in this business, there should be fluctuating inventory levels based on customer demand, employees said. But at Zynex, the numbers remained constant.

That was because they were shipping batteries and electrodes over and over to the same patients, these workers said they realized. Many people would return the packages to the warehouse with notes telling Zynex to stop sending them supplies.

Unwanted supplies, unexplained bills

More than a dozen patients told The Post that they received supplies from Zynex that they never ordered and didn’t need.

Josh Kahn, 39, underwent a spinal fusion in 2023, and his surgeon recommended an electrical nerve stimulation machine. The Denver resident got a prescription for the Zynex device.

The implement worked well, Kahn said, but every month he received batteries and electrodes that were unnecessary given his usage of the machine. He stuffed a drawer with all the supplies.

In January 2025, Kahn asked Zynex to discontinue the recurring orders. The company acknowledged his request.

But Kahn continued to get charged $45 a month for the device and supplies, according to the bills he provided to The Post.

“This is becoming a nuisance,” he told the company in an email.

Chris Basser, 49, used a Zynex machine for a back injury he sustained in 2021 after getting hit by a drunk driver. Medicaid covered everything, the Colorado Springs resident said, but he still received packs of six or nine batteries every three weeks.

He said he tried calling the company to cancel the orders, but nobody ever responded. He eventually gave up.

“I thought it was maybe a miscommunication,” Basser said. “I didn’t think of fraud.”

It didn’t seem to matter whether patients paid their bills. Zynex continued to demand payment.

For nearly four years, Zynex has been seeking $250 from Michael Raizen, despite the Denver resident negotiating a deal with the company to pay for his device.

“It’s like a bad rash,” Raizen’s wife, Gail DeVore, said. “No matter what you do, you can’t get rid of it.”

Sports cars, electric guitars and giant banners

Sandgaard served as the face of Zynex — and he wasn’t shy about letting everyone know.

The CEO showed up to the Englewood office in a sports car, and liked to walk around the office with his electric guitar, blasting music, ex-employees said. One former staffer recalled carrying around his amp and handing out T-shirts “like a little groupie.”

Sandgaard hung a large banner on the fourth floor, a spoof of a in which the Zynex founder is holding a machine gun in one hand, a bald eagle perched on his other arm. He’s standing on a fiery hill with a white Zynex flag behind him. Dollar bills flutter around his feet.

“He came off as a man incredibly full of himself,” the former staffer who felt like a groupie said, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to fears about future career consequences. “It felt very toxic male CEO.”

Complicating matters was the fusion of Sandgaard’s professional and personal lives.

He was in the midst of a divorce when he enlisted the services of a local psychologist, Dr. Raelynn Maloney. In 2014, the two started dating.

Despite the Zynex founder boasting about the company’s success, Maloney learned that Sandgaard and his firm had accrued significant debt and had exhausted lines of credit, she alleged in a 2025 lawsuit against him and the company.

Desperate, Sandgaard asked Maloney to help save Zynex, she said. The psychologist started attending high-level meetings as an unpaid consultant.

Without the ability to obtain financing, Sandgaard regularly asked Maloney for loans for himself and the company, she alleged. Maloney put up more than $1.1 million in personal assets as cash or collateral throughout 2023 so Sandgaard and Zynex could avoid bankruptcy, the complaint alleges.

Sandgaard eventually bought a house for Maloney and her daughters. She quit her private practice to join Zynex full-time, serving as the head of customer service, billing and parts of human resources, Maloney alleged.

In 2020, Sandgaard , and asked Maloney to help turn that organization around as well, she said.

Eventually, Sandgaard started to pull away from Maloney, she said in the lawsuit. He began seeking sexual experiences with their mutual friends, colleagues and former Zynex employees, she alleged. He sexually harassed his staff, Maloney said, and even put her in charge of handling several sexual harassment complaints made by employees.

“I guess you’re not going to have your fairytale ending,” Maloney said Sandgaard told her.

Maloney did not respond to messages seeking comment. Her lawsuit remains open.

Sandgaard, in court filings, called the complaint a “vengeful recounting of events regarding her romantic breakup.” The lawsuit, his lawyers wrote, “is nothing but a punitive attempt to punish her ex-partner and seek financial relief for the benefits she can no longer reap from their relationship.”

Zynex begins to crumble

The facade eventually started to crumble when insurance providers began to catch on to the scheme.

In December 2024, , the health insurer for service members, suspended payments to Zynex “based upon credible allegations of fraud and its audit of Zynex’s billing,” according to Sandgaard and Lucsok’s indictment. That move represented a huge blow to the company’s business, as TRICARE accounted for a quarter of its revenue.

Other payors also stopped reimbursing Zynex.

, in September 2025, said it had paid out more than $3 million in bodily injury claims to Zynex based on “false and fraudulent records,” the insurer alleged in a federal lawsuit filed in New York.

Zynex, the insurer said, “abused Allstate’s claimants’ insurance coverage by billing for (durable medical equipment) that” Zynex “had no legal right to collect.”

Sandgaard and Lucsok concealed TRICARE’s suspension until March 2025, federal prosecutors said. After the news came out, Zynex’s stock dropped by 51% in one day, dipping to $3.41 per share from $7.

Two days after the disclosure, Sandgaard sold $4.8 million of his stock, even though the company could not afford to buy it back, the indictment states.

Records show Sandgaard and the company as a whole suffered from serious financial woes.

Between 2015 and 2025, the Zynex founder personally racked up more than $321,000 in unpaid taxes to the , court records show.

In December, Zynex filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing assets of more than $45 million and debts exceeding $86 million. Among the creditors: U.S. Bank (owed $61.75 million), TRICARE (owed $2.77 million) and the Polsinelli law firm (owed $1.14 million). Maloney is also listed with an “undetermined” claim.

On Jan. 14, a federal grand jury in Rhode Island on charges of conspiracy to commit mail, health care and securities fraud, among other counts.

Federal prosecutors alleged what patients, Zynex employees and insurance providers had been saying for years: The company was billing for and sending people devices and supplies that they didn’t request and didn’t need.

The company collected more than $873 million for its products, including more than $600 million for supplies, “the vast majority of which were the result of fraud,” the government alleged.

Between them, Sandgaard and Lucsok used their sizable earnings to pay for a private jet, a Lamborghini, the McLaren sports car, cosmetic procedures, real estate and the British soccer club, investigators said.

“This case represents a troubling abuse of patients seeking care, as well as the federal health care benefit system,” U.S. Attorney Charles C. Calenda said in a statement announcing the charges.

On Feb. 17, the Justice Department announced Zynex to avoid prosecution, admitting to the long-running scheme. Zynex also agreed to pay up to $12.5 million in fines and forfeit all unpaid claims.

Sandgaard and Zynex also face numerous lawsuits from insurers, patients and shareholders, who say they were duped by the Colorado company.

For patients who used Zynex devices and employees who worked for the Englewood company, the indictment represented an unsurprising turn of events, while also serving as validation that their suspicions were not wrong after all.

“What they were doing was shoveling as much money into their own coffers as possible,” said Houk, the patient who kept getting billed. “It was utterly relentless. A lot of people got hurt by this.”

Re: “How to safeguard the DOJ against the next Trump,” Feb. 22 commentary

I would advocate a more concrete way of safeguarding the Department of Justice than even Barbara McQuade suggests. Amendments to the Constitution are harder for the Supreme Court to overturn than legislation.

Here are some proposed constitutional amendments:

Separately elect the Attorney General by a majority of the popular vote (runoff if necessary) in the midterm of the presidency. This would codify the separation of the DOJ from the executive branch. The AG’s responsibilities should include military prosecutions, and the AG should have jurisdiction over all JAG officers who will be, for practical purposes, civilians. This will prevent the execution of illegal orders of the president to the Department of Defense. Passage should prevent the weaponization of the DOJ. The same impeachment and removal procedure would apply to the AG as to the president.

Please note that presently, state AGs are separately elected by voters in 43 of the 50 states.

Given the above, there is a possibility that a corrupt AG can be elected. To lessen that possibility, the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court must be overturned. I suggest: “Reasonable election campaign spending limits may be imposed by the states in compliance with Amendment XIV.”  This will lessen the possibility of a bought election.

Mitch Brodsky, Denver

Fear and detention, from Ukraine to the United States

Re: “,” Feb. 22 news story

Soldiers are wielding guns, bullying citizens, and invading their homes. Everyone was scared and afraid to go outside. This was a description in Sunday’s Denver Post article describing life in Ukraine under Russia’s oppressive occupation.

The description seems eerily similar to life in Minnesota under the oppressive invasion and occupation by ICE: terrorizing and killing U.S. citizens, and U.S. citizens afraid to leave their homes.

The same article describes how Russia established a vast network of official and secret detention centers where tens of thousands are being detained. Another article in Sunday’s Post describes how ICE is spending tens of billions to secretly snap up warehouses across the United States, converting them to detention centers.

Thanks to the big bad bill, ICE has $45 billion to spend on expanding detention centers! These new detention centers will be placed in our neighborhoods near our homes. ICE is doing this secretly without informing the communities where the detention center will be placed.

I think we have better needs for that kind of money: educating and feeding our children, taking care of our veterans, repairing our crumbling bridges, sewer systems and other infrastructure.

The United States is supposed to be the land of the free. Worldwide, we are living in a culture of war, hate, inhumanity, and animosity. Throw in a good measure of nihilism, greed, and narcissism.

Surely God is looking down upon what he created and is sadly crying. What is the answer? Maybe we could start by creating a culture that follows one of God’s commandments: to love our neighbor — not detain and kill one another.

Gregg A. Kulma, Lakewood

We need to protect bears from euthanization

Bears are euthanized because we humans can’t or won’t take care of our garbage and other bear attractants, which is a tragedy. What does it take to adequately store and dispose of smelly garbage, liquids, and other attractants?

The State of Colorado and Colorado Parks and Wildlife need to establish regulations and laws that fine individuals who don’t adequately store or dispose of garbage when a bear or other wildlife needs to be euthanized. Shame on us.

Alan Aldrich, Thornton

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Re: “Epstein files: Bondi clashes with Democrats,” Feb. 12 news story

Attorney General Pam Bondi does middle-school mean girl really well. The insults she hurls at members of Congress — the people’s representatives — are choice and juvenile. The deranged demeanor accompanying her rude responses under oath deserves an Oscar nomination in the cringe and horror categories.

Sadly, none of these theater performances is in her job description.

We, the people of the United States, who have hired her (bad decision, Republican Senate!) and are paying her salary and benefits, and to whom she has sworn an oath to serve, require a grown professional who understands their job to be the attorney for the people and not the bodyguard of the Fuhrer. The people require an AG who performs the duties of the office, like, for example, prosecuting pedophiles, and to do so in a dignified manner that honors, not insults, the people they serve.

Bondi is not doing any of that. This leaves but one solution. Congress is to impeach, convict, and remove her from office.

Floy Jeffares, Lakewood

Crow’s accusers are the ‘ones following illegal orders’

Re: “Crow says ‘there will be costs’ after failed indictment attempt,” Feb. 12 news story

You go, Jason Crow. The malicious failed prosecution of those in Congress who urged military members not to follow illegal orders demands a response to hold Trump administration officials accountable.

The irony is that the prosecutors in the Justice Department should have been paying attention because they were the ones following illegal orders when they clownishly filed a criminal case when no crime had been committed. They had to use the grand jury route because, in a regular federal court proceeding, the case would have been immediately dismissed out of hand.

What is the over-under bet for how many Trump pardons ultimately will be issued to these spineless creatures? A lot of people will have to be pardoned, but many who need a pardon won’t get one. Yes, keep track of who is being naughty or nice.

Barry Noreen, Denver

Follow officers’ orders and stay alive

Ever wonder what the paper would be like if Donald Trump weren’t president? On most days, the front section is dominated by articles critical of the president, his programs or his party. It has been said that it’s foolish to take on folks who buy ink by the barrel. That is not my intention here.

I believe it’s past time we all just took a big breath, group hug, and think about all the freedoms and good things we have here in these United States. As a Marine Veteran who has seen more of this world, I can say from experience that what we have here ain’t so bad.

I’m sorry people had to lose their lives in the riots in Minnesota; however, I will say what no reporter or editor will say. They would be alive had they only obeyed the officers’ orders.

Ralph McClure, Greeley

Rittenhouse defenders condemn Pretti

In 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse crossed state borders to attend a protest in Wisconsin. Even though he was only 17, he brought an AR-15-style rifle. Rittenhouse fatally shot two men and non-fatally injured another. He was lauded and called a patriot by some.

Alex Pretti attended a protest in his hometown of Minneapolis carrying a holstered gun, which he had a permit to carry. He was called an “assassin” and “terrorist” by many of the same people who endorsed Rittenhouse’s actions.

Rittenhouse was acquitted of homicide charges and is alive and well. Pretti was killed.

What am I missing?

Karen Snyder, Aurora

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, an Englewood-based firm that manufactures and sells medical devices used for pain management and rehabilitation, entered into an agreement Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Justice to avoid prosecution.

The company, as part of the deal, agreed to pay between $5 million and $12.5 million in penalties — the final tally will depend on its earnings and profit during the settlement period — and will forfeit millions of dollars in unpaid claims.

Zynex admitted to participating in a conspiracy to commit health care fraud, securities fraud, mail fraud and other violations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island announced in a .

The agreement comes a month after a federal grand jury indicted two former top Zynex executives who allegedly spearheaded the years-long scheme.

Zynex, in its deal with the government, also admitted to collecting more than $873 million for its products, including more than $600 million for supplies, “the vast majority of which were the result of fraud,” investigators said.

Have you used Zynex for medical devices? We want to talk to you.

The company acknowledged that it shipped and billed for medically unnecessary supplies in excess quantities and misled investors who were unaware of the fraudulent billing practices.

Zynex agreed to implement enhanced compliance and corporate governance reforms "designed to prevent future misconduct," the DOJ said, and will cooperate with the government's ongoing investigations.

“This resolution addresses the seriousness of the fraud committed by Zynex while recognizing the substantial turnaround in conduct implemented under new management,” U.S. Attorney Charles C. Calenda said in the news release.

The company, in a subsequent , said the resolution "represents the fulfillment of the commitments we made as a new management team when we arrived in August 2025: to break from the past, rebuild the company as compliant-by-design and create a new future for the company, its customers and employees."

Zynex leaders say they have completely overhauled their billing and supply replenishment practices, and enacted new marketing policies to ensure the company remains compliant with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, Rep. Joe Neguse and Rep. Jason Crow fought back against corruption, overreach and abuse of power.

For Boebert, Neguse and Crow, the fight is against a U.S. Department of Justice that has gone rogue under Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. attorneys across the nation who are not ashamed to do President Donald Trump’s political bidding with the justice system.

During these trying times, Colorado needs bipartisan agreement that abuse of power in a nation that stands for “justice for all”  will not be tolerated.

Rep. Jason Crow

Nothing from this administration has disturbed us more than Trump’s assertion that members of Congress, including Colorado’s Jason Crow, should be tried for treason – noting that it was “punishable by death” — because they urged members of the U.S. military not to obey illegal orders.

But the fact that Trump found a U.S. attorney willing to do his bidding and seat a grand jury to pursue those charges is baffling. Fortunately, the jurors saw through the U.S. government����ap efforts to railroad six American patriots, all of whom first served in the military before becoming politicians. A grand jury refused to indict Crow and the other five Democrats who participated in the video.

Crow has not been silent despite the threats from the president of the United States, saying emphatically that he and others are standing up to a corrupt Justice Department.

“But that is the moment that we are in,” Crow told The Denver Post. “And I think every American is starting to see that, and the tide is turning.”

The tide is indeed turning.

Rep. Lauren Boebert

Boebert was one of four Republicans who signed a discharge petition in the U.S. House to force a vote on legislation requiring the Justice Department to release a trove of documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein child sex abuse.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act passed by the U.S. House and Senate and signed into law by Trump specifically prohibited redacting the documents to protect people “on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure or foreign dignitary.”

This week, after viewing unredacted versions of the Epstein files, Boebert doubled down on her criticism of those in positions of power who are covering up for those suspected of abuse. In a brief video interview immediately after viewing the documents, she said there were names redacted who were discussing rape who were clearly not victims. If that is true, then the U.S. Justice Department has failed to comply with the clear language of the transparency act. Making matters worse, the Justice Department failed to protect victims, some of whom were named or pictured in the files, missing key redactions that would protect survivors of prostitution, sexual abuse and rape.

Boebert simply told Newsweek that she didn’t think

Who is the DOJ protecting?

Rep. Joe Neguse

Neguse also went after the Justice Department last week, helping a bipartisan group of lawmakers highlight the agency’s corruption during a five-hour hearing with Bondi.

Lawmakers mostly focused on the botched release of the Epstein files and the failure of the Justice Department over decades and multiple administrations to bring criminal charges in the case. If it were not for the work of a Miami Herald reporter exposing sweetheart deals in a series called Epstein would have gotten away with his crimes. Now Americans are demanding that those who joined Epstein in raping children and abusing women must face justice.

Neguse took a different tack, highlighting other ways the Bondi has spurned justice.

First, he quoted Bondi, “If you come for law enforcement, the Trump administration will come for you.”

Then he played a video clip of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. A man in the video can clearly be heard yelling at Capitol police and accusing them of selling out for a pension, and calling them the Nazi and the Gestapo. Then the man then yells “(Expletive) them. Kill them!”

“Attorney General Bondi, that man works for you now, right?” Neguse asks, running through the criminal charges the man faced stemming from his involvement in the Jan. 6 effort to prevent Biden from being seated as president.

“He does work for me,” Bondi said. “I believe he was pardoned by President Donald Trump.”

Then Neguse asked Bondi about the gutting of the Public Integrity Section within the Department of Justice, an agency tasked with the “investigation and prosecution of all federal crimes affecting government integrity, including bribery of public officials, election crimes, and other related offenses.”

Neguse said the agency went from 35 employees to two under Bondi. Bondi fired back that prior administrations had weaponized the agency, but Neguse cut her off, instead turning to her gutting of the Justice Department����ap unit tasked with investigating cryptocurrency.

“She eliminated the team. Why? Because her boss, the president of the United States, is making money hand over fist. $1.4 billion over the last year through cryptocurrency holdings. I think what is happening at the Department of Justice is a disgrace.”

It is a disgrace.

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Chad McWhinney, who founded the real estate company McWhinney — recently renamed — 35 years ago, is the subject of a single email exchange between an unknown person and Epstein. The email includes a photograph of McWhinney kissing a woman, whose image is mostly blacked out, in what appears to be a restaurant.

The says, “chad mcwhinney, kimball’s friend). I like him a lot. Seems like a very nice and solid person. Took him to Mark for lunch.”

Through his attorney Chris Murray, McWhinney denied knowing Epstein or doing business with him. He also said he did not know that the woman, whom he is seen kissing, was connected to the disgraced financier, who died in a New York jail in 2019.

“Chad McWhinney’s name appears in exactly one email in the recently released files relating to Jeffrey Epstein,” Murray wrote in a statement. “That email was apparently sent to Mr. Epstein in 2014 by a then-30-year-old woman Mr. McWhinney was dating at the time. The email includes a picture of Mr. McWhinney with this woman. Mr. McWhinney, who was single and 42 at the time, had no idea the woman had any affiliation with Mr. Epstein. Mr. McWhinney never met Mr. Epstein, never spoke with him, never corresponded with him in any fashion, and never did business with him. Mr. McWhinney empathizes with the victims and is, like all of us, horrified at the facts that are coming to light.”

In the email, the “Kimball” referenced is most likely Kimbal Musk, the Boulder restaurateur and brother of Elon Musk whose emails previously have been identified in the Justice Department document release. Esptein and his associates often misspelled Musk’s first name.

The photograph appears to be taken in a restaurant, and the email’s mention of “Mark” could be a reference to , a high-end restaurant inside a hotel in Manhattan.

The statement from McWhinney’s lawyer did not identify the woman in the photograph, nor did it explain why they believe she was the person who sent the email to Epstein when the sender’s name is redacted in the Justice Department files.

The statement also did not address who took the picture or when and where it was taken. It also did not address the relationship between McWhinney and Kimbal Musk and whether they are still friends.

The email about McWhinney is one of millions of documents, pictures and videos released since last year by the Justice Department through its online . On Jan. 30, the department uploaded nearly 3 million additional papers and thousands of pictures and videos after Congress mandated it release more files under pressure from the public.  Speculation abounds about Epstein’s connections to President Donald Trump and other prominent people.

The Denver Post searched the database using the search term “Colorado” and by entering the names of wealthy residents, politicians, business leaders and athletes.  The searches uncovered thousands of documents and hundreds of photos, mostly irrelevant to Epstein’s crimes. The documents, however, also showed that Epstein and his associates often traveled to Aspen, a popular destination for the nation’s elite, and that Epstein’s associates networked with prominent Coloradoans for business, legal and political reasons.

The files showed that two women who were trafficked and abused by Epstein had Colorado ties, including Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most outspoken critics, who died by suicide in 2025. She lived in Colorado for some period of time, and her brother and sister-in-law live in El Paso County and continue to demand justice on her behalf.

A second woman, who was only identified by the initials ML, was living in a tent with her dog near the Animas River in Durango when Espstein died. She was a recovering addict with no money when she traveled to Miami two months after Epstein’s death to attend a briefing the FBI held for his victims.

Kimbal Musk was identified in the Epstein files through emails the two men exchanged. In one exchange, Musk thanked Epstein and one of his associates for connecting him to a woman in 2012. The emails also discuss party times and meeting dates.

Musk, however, said he only met Epstein one time, and that he met the woman, who was 30 years old, through a friend and that “Epstein did not introduce us.”

McWhinney, who founded a real estate firm with a brother, moved to Loveland from California as a young man after his grandmother died and he purchased the family farm from his father, according to BusinessDen. The two bought thousands of acres in Larimer County and in 2000 began redeveloping the land into the mixed-use Centerra community — a large development just off Interstate 25.

Since then, the McWhinney company, which changed its name to Realberry last month, has developed high-profile Denver properties, including Union Station and the Dairy Block, and its holdings include the former Great Divide building in RiNo, LoDo’s Thompson Hotel and the FoundryLine, a 17-story apartment building in RiNo that McWhinney completed in 2024. The company has also developed property in Texas and California.

McWhinney told BusinessDen that the name change coincided with a shift in how the company finances its projects. In the past, the company raised money through investors who would put at least $1 million into a project after meeting with the brothers.

Realberry is advertising investment opportunities online, including Red Hawk Crossings, a development in Castle Rock featuring 60 townhomes. BusinessDen reported that the company seeks to raise $10 million from investors.

McWhinney and his firm have received multiple accolades over the years, including 2009 developer/owner of the year by , a commercial real estate association, and by Denver Business Journal in 2020.

“We are taking names, we are making lists,” Crow said in an interview.

Crow, who represents an Aurora-centered district in Congress, said he had still not received any information from the Department of Justice or the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C. He learned through news reports Tuesday night that a grand jury had rejected federal prosecutors’ attempt to charge him and his colleagues over a video the lawmakers released to U.S. troops last year.

In the November video, the Democrats — all of whom served in the military or intelligence services — told military members to follow existing protocol and not obey commands that would violate the law.

It’s unclear what charges prosecutors sought to bring against the lawmakers. Crow said he was “appalled” when he saw the news reports, and he and three of the other lawmakers targeted in the probe accused the Trump administration Wednesday of weaponizing the Justice Department against the president’s political enemies.

“But that is the moment that we are in,” Crow told The Denver Post. “And I think every American is starting to see that, and the tide is turning.”

He said he wasn’t aware of any similar attempts to indict members of Congress for political speech.

The Justice Department had opened an investigation into the lawmakers’ comments, and Crow said he was contacted by the FBI and the department late last year for an interview. He has not been interviewed.

After the video’s release, President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition that was “punishable by death,” and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth censured Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut, for his role in the video. Hegseth has also sought to demote Kelly from his retired rank of captain.

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On Wednesday, Crow’s lawyer sent a letter to Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., instructing her to preserve records from the investigation into the lawmakers. The attorney, Abbe David Lowell, also warned Pirro that “further attempts to pursue these baseless allegations would be actionable.”

“The baseless and absurd allegations by Donald Trump, followed by your carrying out of the president’s political retribution campaign, has already gone too far and are evidence of yet another abuse of power directed to those who dare speak out and criticize this Administration,” Lowell wrote.

Pirro’s office did not respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.

that a dance photographer, who worked for Pirro when she was a county prosecutor in the 1990s, was one of the federal prosecutors who’d sought to secure the indictment. He joined the office after a mass exodus of staff, according to Bloomberg.

At a news conference earlier Wednesday, Crow and the three other participating lawmakers — U.S. Reps. Chrissy Houlahan and Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire — declined to say what next steps they planned to take or on what timeline.

“Actually, that’s a ball that’s in the Trump administration’s court,” Crow said. “We’ve been very clear about that position, and it needs to stop. If it doesn’t stop, then we’ll take all necessary options.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

“She is currently refusing any housin (sic). She has a dog and she is unwilling to leave him for any reason. She is living in a tent near the river in (redacted). As of right now, that is where she wants to be,” a member of the wrote in a Sept. 13, 2019, email included in a trove of documents newly released by the .

That woman would be escorted the following month by a caseworker to the Durango airport so she could fly to Miami, where she was scheduled to attend an FBI briefing for Epstein’s victims after he died. The FBI employees exchanging emails about her were concerned about her well-being, saying the woman had no money, had been sober for a year and was traveling with a temporary paper identification card from Colorado that did not include a picture.

“I’m slightly concerned that Florida will be a trigger for her although she’s been working through that fairly well and seems determined,” an FBI employee wrote on Oct. 12, 2019.

Kimbal Musk, referenced at least 140 times in Jeffrey Epstein emails, says he only met Epstein once

The woman, identified only by the initials ML, appears to be one of many victims who were sexually assaulted and trafficked -- often as teenagers -- by Epstein.

Since last year, the Justice Department has uploaded millions of documents, photographs and videos to its publicly searchable , adding nearly 3 million more documents and thousands of pictures and videos on Jan. 30. The latest release came after Congress in November mandated it under pressure from the public and as speculation swirls around Epstein's connections to President Donald Trump and other prominent people.

The Denver Post searched the word "Colorado" in the files to get a sampling of Epstein's ties to the state. The Post reviewed 1,518 documents, including emails, text messages, pictures and court filings. The Post also ran the names of prominent Coloradoans through the database.

Kimbal Musk, a Boulder restaurateur and Elon Musk's brother, was referenced scores of times, including in email exchanges with Epstein and his friends about women and parties. Musk has not responded to The Post's requests for comment.

Other Coloradans were mentioned because they were lawyers representing Epstein's associates in business or criminal matters, or because Epstein's associates were seeking to meet them for business or political purposes.

Searching the documents is difficult for a number of reasons, including Epstein's voluminous misspellings and grammatical errors.

The files are heavily redacted, making it difficult at times to understand who is communicating with whom and to paint a complete picture of a particular conversation, such as an email exchange in 2013 between Bella Klein, one of Epstein's accountants, and two other people as they tried to determine who had been with Epstein in Aspen on April 15 of that year. One person replied, "I did not go to Aspen. Hope this helps." But the two other people's names were redacted, and the purpose of the trip was never discussed.

Many documents are duplicated for no apparent reason. The files also include documents that are of no relevance to Epstein's crimes, such as emailed advertisements, newsletters and real estate listings.

Victims' Colorado ties

At least two women who were prostituted and abused by Epstein and his clients had Colorado connections.

Epstein traveled to Aspen over the years, and a recently unsealed grand jury indictment filed in over the abuse of 13 girls lists a July 4, 2004, flight from Aspen to Palm Beach as evidence in that case. The names of people with Epstein on that flight were redacted.

In addition to the woman living in a tent, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an Epstein victim who became an outspoken advocate for sex trafficking survivors, lived in Colorado at some points during her adult life.

Giuffre is one of the accusers who said she was sexually abused by Britain's former Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his royal title in the wake of the Epstein scandal. Giuffre died by suicide in 2025, but her brother and sister-in-law, who live in El Paso County, have on her behalf.

Ghislaine Maxwell, who was for her role in Epstein's sex-trafficking crimes and is serving a 20-year prison sentence, hired a Denver law firm to assist in her criminal defense. She frequently wired thousands of dollars from the Wells Fargo bank at 1700 Broadway to pay her legal fees.

However, that firm -- -- sued Maxwell, her brother, Kevin Maxwell, and her husband, Scott Borgerson, in 2022, alleging she failed to pay $878,000 for their work.

The firm received a $986,644.03 default judgment against the Maxwells in December 2022.

Efforts to reach the firm's representatives were unsuccessful, and it is unclear whether the debt was paid.

Preferred destination for the jet set

The Epstein files paint a picture of how Colorado is a preferred destination for the jet set as they travel across the country for business and recreation, and how wealthy and powerful people network with each other, either through financial investments, real estate, business retreats or philanthropy.

For example, , a Swedish-American businesswoman, at least three times invited Epstein to fundraisers on behalf of U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat. There was nothing in the Justice Department files that indicated Epstein ever responded to those invitations.

In her emails to Epstein, which were first reported by the , Ehnbom praised DeGette's interest in science and her role as a congresswoman.

In a 2011 email exchange between Ehnbom and Epstein, she asked Epstein if he planned to be in New York for an upcoming "Stem Cell gala" and, if so, asked if he would be interested in meeting DeGette.

"She is one of the few people in congress who who has a scientific agenda and she is good person -- want to meet her?" Ehnbom wrote.

Epstein did not mention DeGette in his reply: "Im still in paris„ who is the brazilian„ and where is my swedish wife?"

Jack Stelzner, a spokesman for DeGette, said the Denver congresswoman met Ehnbom through her work on biomedical research. DeGette was unaware of who Ehnbom was inviting to fundraisers, including Epstein, he said.

"Congresswoman DeGette was not aware of her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein," Stelzner said. "Jeffrey Epstein did not attend any of those fundraisers."

In multiple emails and text messages, Esptein and his associates discussed their Colorado vacations and how they loved visiting the mountains.

His staff also occasionally booked vacations for people, but it is unclear who was traveling, such as a December 2015 ski trip to Aspen for unidentified girls -- as they were referred to in an email -- who were staying in a lodge and taking lessons.

The horror within the Epstein saga is what happened to the teenage girls and young women who were trapped in his sex-trafficking ring.

Epstein's 2019 indictment for a sex-trafficking conspiracy said he recruited girls as young as 14 to have sex acts with him at his homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach, Florida, and other locations. He paid them hundreds of dollars in cash and often paid them to introduce him to friends.

Pursuit of justice

The files provide a picture of what the victims' lives were like in the fallout of Epstein's crimes and as they struggled to cope with what had happened.

In 2015, Guiffre, one of Epstein's most vocal accusers, was followed by British media inside a southern Colorado Walmart and needed the store's security to help her leave through a back door. And when she and her family returned to their home in Penrose, they found their back door open.

"They had been taking high security precautions, so that seemed very unusual," Guiffre's lawyers wrote in an email to U.S. attorneys. "Brad and I believe that this may be Epstein (or his associates) signaling that VR should not talk."

Guiffre, who was at times identified as Victoria Rogers, also accused Alan Dershowitz, one of Epstein's lawyers, of sexual assault. She later withdrew her allegation, but not before an extended legal battle unfolded. Epstein's legal team accused her of "hiding out" in Colorado as they battled over whether she would give a deposition in Colorado or Florida.

Guiffre died by suicide on April 25, 2025, in Australia. A posthumous memoir of Guiffre's experience -- -- was published in October.

In November, Guiffre's brother, Sky Roberts, and his wife, Amanda Roberts, talked to the media about the Epstein files, saying they wanted them released to bring justice for his sister and other victims, according to new reports.

“We’re here for our community. And this isn’t just a singular moment for Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell survivors. It����ap for every single survivor, every single person that suffered at the hands of abuse, sexual abuse and trafficking,” Amanda Roberts in Colorado Springs.