Romney may have violated 'ethics laws' by holding stake in company linked to VP-pick Ryan's brother

London, Aug 17 (ANI): Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may have breached state ethics laws while serving as the Governor of Massachusetts, by holding a stake in a company that did lucrative work for his administration and was linked to the family of Paul Ryan, according to a recent investigation.

Romney appears to have profited from a marketing company that was contracted by the state of Massachusetts after receiving 5 million dollars in financial backing from Bain Capital, the Republican's investment firm.

One of his vice-presidential candidate's brother, Tobin Ryan, who is a former Bain consultant, was at the time of the investment a senior executive at the marketing company, Imagitas, which was co-founded by another former Bain executive, The Telegraph reports.

According to the report, both Romney and Ryan, apparently stood to benefit from the 230 million dollar sale of the company in 2005, while Romney remained in office.

The finding also sheds light on the previously unnoticed connections between Romney's involvement in the private sector, government and campaign finance, the paper said.

Imagitas had reportedly donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Republican Governors' Association while it was chaired by Romney.

Both Romney's campaign and Bain Capital declined to make any comments on the issue. (ANI)