Investigation of Alleged Ethics Violations by a Senior DOI Official

We investigated allegations that a senior official with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) made several comments that caused other DOI employees to question his ethics. He allegedly expressed his intent to assist two American Indian tribes he had worked with before becoming a DOI employee, encouraged subordinates to hire his former business associates and to arrange for the DOI to approve payment of the guarantee on a tribal loan he had been involved with before he came to the DOI, and asked a DOI employee to hire one of his relatives. We found that in the short time the senior official worked for the DOI, he made several comments that created an appearance to employees that he was planning to give preferential treatment to entities he had relationships with: • He told employees that he intended to continue assisting two tribes he had worked with before coming to the DOI. We found he assisted these tribes only once as a DOI employee, when he volunteered to schedule meetings for them with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. • He spoke to subordinates about hiring his former business associates and approving the loan guarantee payment. Although this did not violate regulations, his statements made his subordinates uncomfortable. • He asked a DOI employee to hire his relative. He claimed that his request had been meant as a joke, but the employee believed he had been serious. The senior official has left the DOI. We provided this report to the Deputy Secretary of the Interior for any action deemed appropriate.