BALTIMORE —  Mayor Sheila Dixon accepted fur coats and airplane tickets from a prominent Baltimore developer and took several lavish trips with him in 2003 and 2004, according to court documents made public Tuesday.

Documents obtained by The (Baltimore) Sun detail several gifts from developer Ronald H. Lipscomb to Dixon and revealed the focus of an investigation into Dixon's financial dealings.

The mayor, who was City Council president at the time, did not include the gifts on her financial disclosure statements, the documents show. City officials are required by law to disclose gifts from people doing business with the city.

The disclosure prompted Dixon and Lipscomb to acknowledge a personal relationship in late 2003 and early 2004. They denied that the relationship affected Lipscomb's dealings with City Hall.

"In late 2003 and early 2004, I had a personal relationship with Ron Lipscomb. We were both separated from our respective spouses at the time, we traveled together and exchanged gifts on special occasions," Dixon said in a statement. "Our brief relationship was personal, and it did not influence my decisions related to matters of city government."

The state prosecutor's office has been scrutinizing Dixon's financial dealings for more than two years. But it had no comment Tuesday on the documents and refused to confirm or deny the existence of specific investigations.

At the time of the relationship, the city gave tax breaks to Lipscomb's company, Doracon Contracting Inc., for a $97 million apartment, condominium and retail complex known as Spinnaker Bay, the documents suggested. They indicated Dixon also voted in favor of other Doracon projects as president of the city's Board of Estimates.

Investigators "believe that a corrupt relationship exists between City Council President Sheila Dixon, developer Ronald Lipscomb, and Dennis Cullop," vice president of Doracon Contracting Inc., according to the documents.

Dixon's attorney, Dale P. Kelberman, did not return a message for comment.

Lipscomb's attorney, Gerard P. Martin, said the documents did not implicate his client.

"In Mr. Lipscomb's entire business career, he has never asked an elected official, including Ms. Dixon, to do anything for him or his business," Martin said.

The documents obtained by The Sun were filed in support of a search warrant executed at Doracon's offices last November. Witnesses in the Dixon case have been called to testify before a grand jury this week and next.

Dixon divorced her second husband, Thomas Hampton, in 2006. The mayor's spokesman, Sterling Clifford, said Dixon had never been asked previously about her personal relationship with Lipscomb.

The documents suggested Cullop used a credit card belonging to Doracon to buy a $2,000 gift certificate from a Baltimore County furrier on Dec. 24, 2003. Dixon used the gift certificate toward two fur coats purchased in January 2004, the documents showed.

After prosecutors raided her home last week, Dixon told reporters she owns "several" furs but declined to say if they were gifts.

The documents also detail several trips by Dixon and Lipscomb.

The pair took an Amtrak train to New York on Feb. 18, 2004 _ the day the Board of Estimates approved the Spinnaker Bay tax breaks. Credit card receipts show that Lipscomb paid $2,089.84 for two nights at a luxury hotel and he paid Dixon's return trip.

Dixon's $1,518.20 airfare for a trip to Chicago in March 2004 was charged to Cullop's credit card, the documents stated. They noted Dixon and Lipscomb also traveled together to Boston and Avon, Colo., and Lipscomb was among the guests at Dixon's 50th birthday party in the Bahamas in December 2003.

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