Timeline: How a no-bid contract effort ensnared Sen. Ellsworth in political scandal

In the final days of 2024, Sen. Jason Ellsworth, a Hamilton Republican, was in the final stretch of his term as president of the Montana Senate when he emailed staff to approve a contract he had quietly arranged with Agile Analytics, a new company formed by his longtime friend and business associate, Bryce Eggleston.

In the first days of 2025, that attempt to pay out the no-bid, six-figure contract for Eggleston exploded into a political scandal that would consume much of the legislative session and color some of the internal strife of the Montana GOP for the year to come.

The following is a timeline of key events, from the first reporting on Ellsworth's contract with Agile Analytics to the criminal prosecution that followed.

Dec. 18, 2025

Ten months after investigators with the Montana Department of Justice took up the referral into Ellsworth's contract with Agile Analytics, state prosecutors file an official misconduct charge against him alleging he illegally favored a friend with a six-figure, no-bid contract. The next day, a district court judge granted DOJ's request that Ellsworth be suspended from office pending the outcome of the criminal case.

July 13, 2025

Ellsworth stopped participating in-person during the session due to health problems stemming from the turmoil of a political scandal dogging him in the Capitol hallways, his attorney claimed in a $5 million claim for damages against the state. The state's tort defense office denied the $5 million claim and Ellsworth's attorney vowed to take the matter to court, although that litigation never followed.

April 1, 2025

After a fraught week of negotiations, the Senate resoundingly votes to ban Ellsworth from the chamber for life and to revoke nearly all of his legislative privileges (Ellsworth voted against the censure motion, which passed 44-6). The measure prohibited him from serving on interim committees and speaking with legislative staff, but preserved his vote — allowed only by remote means — to maintain representation for his district.

March 24, 2025

A bipartisan coalition that includes Ellsworth and controlled the Senate through most of the legislative session defeats a bid to expel Ellsworth from office, setting off a race to control the narrative over how the senator was being held accountable. Leadership from both caucuses, meanwhile, began negotiating disciplinary measures that could be accepted by both factions.

March 19, 2025

The Senate Ethics Committee deliberately said its work would produce an accounting of facts, but would not issue a recommendation on how the chamber should discipline Ellsworth. Here's what it did and did not say:

March 14, 2025

After ethics proceedings got back underway at the Legislature, Ellsworth's business associate, Bryce Eggleston, refused to appear for testimony. Lawmakers issued a warrant for his testimony, but folded it shortly afterward when he provided testimony through a video recorded by Ellsworth's attorney.

Feb. 11, 2025

The Montana State News Bureau learns Ellsworth, before assembling a contract to analyze legislation for Agile Analytics, pushed for Eggleston to be hired into a state job that did not previously exist.

Feb. 6, 2025

Tensions erupted in the Senate as Ellsworth's coalition pauses ethics proceedings to refer the matter to the state justice department. Ellsworth was among those who voted to send the case to DOJ.

Feb. 4, 2025

Among the violations the Senate Ethics Committee sets out to examine is a criminal charge: official misconduct, a misdemeanor that could see Ellsworth removed from office if convicted.

Jan. 29, 2025

For the first time, Eggleston weighs in publicly, claiming the contract was his idea, not Ellsworth's.

Jan. 27, 2025

One legislative day after the audit report is released, the Senate votes unanimously — including Ellsworth — to send the matter to an ethics committee, a rare occurrence at the biennial, citizen-led Legislature.

Jan. 24, 2025

Legislative auditors find Ellsworth illegally abused his position and wasted state resources by attempting to arrange a contract for Agile Analytics, run by his longtime friend and former business partner, in a manner that kept the deal out of public view. "There was and is no logical reason that the original contracts were bifurcated other than to unlawfully avoid oversight of the contracts…," the audit memo read.

Jan. 18, 2025

Emails obtained by the Montana State News Bureau reveal that Ellsworth first attempted to secure two contracts below the threshold for a public bid. When that attempt failed, he still circumvented the public process through an exigency granted because the funding source was set to expire at the end of 2024.

Jan. 17, 2025

Reporting by the Montana State News Bureau first unearths the contract Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, quietly arranged with Agile Analytics and Bryce Eggleston, a longtime friend and business associate.