Investigation of Steve Black

We investigated an allegation that a former DOI employee, Steve Black, violated restrictions against contacting current DOI employees to seek “official action.” On December 7, 2015, we posted an investigative summary which indicated that Black had violated his Presidential ethics pledge that stated he would abide by this restriction for 2 years.

 

Our investigation did not conclude that Black violated the ethics pledge because we did not establish that Black sent the communication (an invitation to a Department employee to participate as a panelist in a conference) or that he intended that the communication be attributed to him. 

 

The original summary of this report has been replaced with the actual report (with several names redacted as required).