By Nate Raymond

May 1 (Reuters) - A federal bankruptcy judge in Houston has been cleared of wrongdoing over allegations that he failed to report that another judge in his court had been in an undisclosed romantic relationship with an attorney at the law firm Jackson Walker.

U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Jones dismissed a judicial misconduct complaint filed with the 5th Circuit Judicial Council against a jurist matching the description of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur citing a lack of evidence that he had "reliable" information about his colleague, former U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones' relationship before it became public.

While the decision does not identify either judge by name, the ruling's details and descriptions of the judges match those of Isgur and Jones, who himself had been the subject of a judicial ethics probe that ended after he left the bench.

Those details include a quote from a presentation Isgur gave and business records detailing his listing as a registered agent on a business filing for an entity owned by the judge’s adult child, which the complaint described as a "political persona."

Isgur did not respond to a request for comment.

Jones resigned in 2023, days after acknowledging that he had been in a years-long relationship with bankruptcy lawyer Elizabeth Freeman, who had worked at Jackson Walker, a firm that handled cases before the judge, and shared a home with her.

Before his resignation, Jones had been the busiest bankruptcy judge in the United States and presided over the bankruptcies of JCPenney, Neiman Marcus, Party City and Chesapeake Energy, among many others.

The resulting scandal prompted a criminal investigation into Jones and litigation by the U.S. Trustee, the Justice Department's bankruptcy watchdog, to force Jackson Walker to disgorge millions of dollars in legal fees Jones approved in at least 35 bankruptcy cases involving the law firm.

Isgur, whose daughter is the conservative legal media commentator Sarah Isgur, had been a onetime mentor and law partner with Jones, whom he described in a 2023 speech as his "stubborn adopted son."

The complaint filed with the 5th Circuit was lodged by an unnamed individual litigating a case without a lawyer in an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy court that the complainant claimed Isgur should have recused himself from.

The complainant claimed Isgur should have done so as the proceeding concerned a fraud upon the court perpetrated by a law firm that employed a partner the judge had described as a friend.

The complainant noted how Isgur and Jones had spoken publicly about their close professional and personal relationship and argued it was likely Isgur attended social events at which Isgur and Freeman were present.

Exact details on the allegations were not clear. The 5th Circuit, as is its custom with judicial misconduct cases, did not make the original complaint public.

A provision of the Rules for Judicial-Conduct and Judicial-Disability Proceedings provides that cognizable misconduct by a judge can include failing to report "any reliable information reasonably likely to constitute misconduct."

But Jones said the complainant lacked evidence Isgur had reliable information about Jones' relationship, and when she contacted Isgur as part of an inquiry into the allegations, he denied having any knowledge about the relationship before it became public.

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(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston)