FWS Supervisor Allegedly Violated Conflict of Interest Ethics Law

The OIG investigated allegations that Richard Ruggiero, Chief of the Division of International Conservation (DIC), International Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), may have violated Federal ethics regulations when he issued a cooperative agreement and was involved in two grants to nonprofit organizations with which a family member was associated. We found that Ruggiero violated Federal conflict of interest laws and regulations by participating in an FWS cooperative agreement that financially benefited his family member, and neither Ruggiero nor his family member disclosed their relationship in writing to the FWS. Ruggiero also shared nonpublic FWS information about the agreement with his family member. Ruggiero initially told us he did not participate in any decisions related to the agreement, but he later admitted his involvement and said he should have documented the potential conflict and recused himself from working on the agreement. Other FWS employees, to include one of Ruggiero’s senior employees, knew that Ruggiero’s family member was involved with the agreement, and that Ruggiero authorized additional funding to the agreement. The senior employee consulted with the FWS Ethics Office on behalf of Ruggiero, but failed to follow the guidance he received to have Ruggiero draft a recusal memorandum and submit it to the ethics office for review. Neither Ruggiero nor any of the other FWS employees reported the conflict of interest to the FWS Ethics Office. We also found that Ruggiero was a decision maker on other grants awarded by the FWS to organizations with which his family member was involved. We provided this report to the Acting FWS Director.