In a letter drafted in the office of Sen. Scott Brown and signed by Sen. John Kerry and Reps. John Tierney and Barney Frank, they call for Locke, who received the report that follows up one by the Commerce Department's Office of the Inspector General, to make its findings public by May 15, which is Sunday.
As the fishing industry long claimed, the IG found that the federal fisheries law enforcers and litigators treated routine administrative violations as if they were dealing with criminals.
The IG also reported mass abuse of the Asset Forfeiture Fund, through which passed nearly $100 million in fines over a 4 1/2-year period with so little record keeping and controls that the auditing firm KPMG exhausted its commission before being able to cut through the fog.
KPMG was able to determine that Jones' office acquired more vehicles than it had officers — plus a luxury speed boat that was used for vacations — and also used the asset forfeiture fund to underwrite overseas travel unrelated to cases to exotic spots.
In at least one case the new report is expected to include, an administrative law judge within the Coast Guard system — which contracts with NOAA to hear cases that can't be settled — traveled to a conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with NOAA lawyers soon after rendering to NOAA the verdict it had sought against a against a New Bedford fisherman, according to documents released to the Gloucester Times Thursday under the US Freedom of Information Act.
The released documents (Document 1 & Document 2) show that Pamela LaFreniere, the attorney for the fisherman, sought without success to learn whether the judge's travel was charged to the Asset Forfeiture Fund. Judges were paid out of the fund for their work, records show, as were the operating expenses of the litigation office.
Court documents show that the administrative judge ignored a federal judge's order to restart the case, and instead reaffirmed and enforced the penalties sought by the NOAA lawyers who were in Kuala Lumpur with the presiding judge.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.
Read the response which rejects the FOIA requesting the final report in NOAA abuses.