Commerce Secretary John Bryson and the judicial master, retired federal magistrate Charles B. Swartwood III, did not respond immediately to questions about the continuing investigation submitted by the Times to Swartwood's employer, JAMS, the judicial, arbitration and mediation services company.

But attorneys Stephen Ouellette of Gloucester and Pamela Lafreniere independently confirmed that each had at least a dozen clients who had been interviewed by Swartwood. It was his initial followup to an Inspector General's 2009 probe that last summer brought about a Cabinet-level apology and reparations paid to New England fishermen and waterfront businesses, including the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction.

"Overzealous enforcement and unjustifiably high fines," was how Lafreniere characterized the problems described by her clients to the special master.

Read the complete story by Richard Gaines in The Gloucester Times