In this Jan. 12, 2015, file photo, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, left, is joined by his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, as he is sworn in for an unprecedented fourth term in Salem, Ore. The Oregon Ethics Commission voted Friday to pursue an official investigation of the couple on complaints they used their public offices for profit, conflicts of interest and inappropriate acceptance of gifts.

Former First Lady Cylvia Hayes violated several state ethics laws when she used her public position and state staff and resources to win a paid fellowship and contracts for her environmental consulting firm between 2011 and 2013, state investigators have concluded.

Investigators with the Oregon Ethics Commission and the state Department of Justice outlined their findings in an ethics investigation report, released early Wednesday.

The Oregon Ethics Commission will consider the report Friday to determine whether it agrees with investigators’ findings and to determine fines of up to $5,000 per violation.

Hayes and former Gov. John Kitzhaber have been under an ethics investigation since July.

They had been under a federal criminal investigation for more than two years before that, after Willamette Week reported the first lady may have used her position to win several consulting contracts. The scandal eventually prompted Kitzhaber to resign from office in February 2015 and led to former Secretary of State Kate Brown’s succession as governor.

Federal prosecutors ultimately filed no charges against the couple. By the time the federal investigation had concluded, the statute of limitation had run out for any state charges.

In November, the ethics commission rejected a proposed settlement with Kitzhaber in which he agreed to pay $1,000 for ethics violations related to conflicts of interest and accepting gifts with value of more than $50. A majority of commissioners said they felt the settlement was too lenient.

The ethics commission will reconsider his case next month.

Lisa Hay, Hayes’s public defender, said that her client was in an unprecedented position when she took public office because she was an unmarried partner of the governor, was not supported by him, kept her own residence and had to work to support herself.

“Cylvia attempted in good faith to define her role as both the first lady and as a consultant in order to understand the boundaries of each,” Hay wrote in a response to state ethics investigators’ findings. “She frequently sought advice. Any errors in adhering to state ethics rules or statutes were the result of confusion within the administration, mistakes and the lack of clear guidelines for an unmarried partner and not due to criminal intent to commit fraud.”