The OIG investigated allegations that Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Douglas Domenech advocated for a close family member’s employment at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Domenech allegedly used his U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) email account and title when he contacted a now-former EPA senior official regarding the family member’s EPA application and another close family member’s business.
Following our investigation, we determined that Domenech communicated with the EPA senior official on several occasions from his DOI email account regarding the family member’s EPA application, which constituted a misuse of office in violation of 5 C.F.R. § 2635.702 and 5 C.F.R. § 2635.702(a), “Use of Public Office for Private Gain.” In addition, we found that Domenech provided the other family member’s business name and website to the EPA senior official in an email sent from his DOI email account, which contravened 5 C.F.R. § 2635.101(b)(14), the Federal regulation requiring employees to avoid any actions creating the appearance of violating the law or Federal ethical standards.
We provided this report to the DOI Chief of Staff for any action deemed appropriate.