In Secret 2019 Settlement Agreement, USCG Gave 3 Month Suspension to Mariner who Subjected a USMMA Cadet to Weeks of Shipboard Sexual Terror Aboard a Maersk Ship. USMMA Continues to Send him Cadets.

New York, NY

By: MLAA

After more than two years of legal battles with the U.S. Coast Guard over documents related to the USCG’s lack of enforcement of laws against sexual misconduct in the U.S. maritime industry, Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy has obtained the first “Secret Sexual Predator Settlement Agreement” from the USCG and is now making that document and the name of the sexual predator public in order to protect cadets and other mariners who may find themselves trapped on a ship with this dangerous, USCG-approved mariner.

MLAA has previously reported on this case. However, MLAA was unable to learn the name of the predator or the details of the outrageously lenient punishment he received from the USCG for a pattern of shipboard sexual terror directed at a USMMA Cadet until obtaining the Secret Settlement Agreement this month. 

MLAA’s reporting on this deeply troubling case is based on a 60+ page investigative report produced by the Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), as well as an investigative report produced by the USCG Office of Investigations and Casualty Analysis (CG-INV), led for the past 8 years by Captain Jason Neubauer. MLAA obtained both investigative reports via the Freedom of Information Act.

MLAA’s initial reporting on this case focused on the fact that Maersk Line, Limited had intentionally violated the reporting requirements of 46 USC 10104, also known as the Federal Shipboard Sexual Assault Allegation Reporting Law, by failing to report the USMMA Cadet’s written allegations of shipboard sexual assault to the U.S. Coast Guard. 

According to documents contained in the CGIS report, Maersk coverup lawyer Gary English ordered the Captain of the Maersk containership to log the Cadet’s allegations as merely “sexual harassment,” despite the fact that the Cadet had accused the perpetrator of sexually assaulting her in a written statement delivered to the master of the vessel titled “Statement of Sexual Harassment/Assault.” 

Illegally and inaccurately referring to incidents and allegations of shipboard “Sexual Assault” as merely “Sexual Harassment” in internal documents, internal sexual misconduct investigations and in legally required shipboard log entries is a standard practice for Maersk, as MLAA has learned.

In the USMMA cadet’s written statement that was included in the CGIS report, the Cadet alleged that Magdy Hassan Balat, the Bosun of the Maersk vessel, sexually assaulted her, sexually harassed her, stalked her around the ship, threatened her with physical violence, logged into her facebook account on the ship’s shared computer and impersonated the Cadet as he sent disgusting, pornographic messages to her friends, among other outrageous, illegal, and sickening behaviors. 

According to statements by the Cadet and several other crewmembers, this pattern of shipboard sexual terror lasted for weeks before the vessel’s Captain ordered the Bosun to stay away from the Cadet and to never enter a space on the vessel where he would be alone with the Cadet. If the Bosun had simply followed those instructions and warnings, he would have evaded all punishment for his crimes and misconduct.

But he did not heed the Captains warnings, and continued to threaten the Cadet, and Maersk was reluctantly forced to fire the Bosun, who was totally unrepentant in a statement to the vessel’s Captain. In that statement, contained in the CGIS Report, the Bosun said, “This is nothing but crap...You know what this is Captain....you know what it’s like when you get females on a ship. They can’t really help on deck and they cause problems.”

Despite Maersk’s attempts to illegally hide the Cadet’s sexual assault allegations by logging the firing as the result of “sexual harassment,” through some strange circumstance, which is not clear from the record, the matter came to the attention of the U.S. Coast Guard in Staten Island, New York. It is possible that the Captain of the vessel, after being instructed by lawyers at Maersk to violate 46 USC 10104, circumvented his superiors at Maersk and personally mailed the internal investigation documents to the U.S. Coast Guard, setting off a CGIS investigation.

The CGIS investigation that ensued was damning. The investigative report paints a picture of a 60’ish year-old man terrorizing a teenage Cadet who was trapped on a ship with the predator with nowhere to hide. The investigation report contains numerous statements made by other crew members who confirmed the Bosun’s pattern of illegal behavior.

Eventually, the USCG Sector New York Investigating Officer and the CG-INV decided to take action against the Bosun’s merchant mariner credential (MMC), and he was offered a Secret Settlement Agreement.

Under the terms of the USCG Settlement Agreement, for shipboard sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, threats of physical violence, and computer crimes, Balat had his MMC suspended for 3 months and was also required to attend a one-day anti-sexual harassment class. At the end of the 3 month suspension, which he likely served during his vacation period, the USCG returned Balat’s MMC in mid 2019 and he went back to work as if nothing had happened.

There is no indication in any of the documents reviewed by MLAA that the victim was ever notified about the terms of the Secret Settlement Agreement, or that the victim was ever consulted in any way by the USCG. As far as the USCG was concerned, the victim did not exist.

For perspective on the severity of the 3 month suspension, if a USCG-credentialed mariner fails a drug test because trace amounts of marijuana metabolites are found in his or her urine, the penalty is an automatic one-year suspension of his or her MMC, a very expensive course of treatment, and possibly the permanent revocation of his or credential.

On September 15, 2021 MLAA notified DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Acting Maritime Administrator Lucinda Lessley, DOT Inspector General Eric J. Soskin, as well as USMMA administrators and lawyers of the danger posed to cadets by a known sexual predator who continues to work in the industry aboard ships where USMMA cadets and cadets from the state maritime academies are routinely sent for training. MLAA sent these officials a copy of the Secret Settlement Agreement as well as the CGIS report, and requested that all USMMA cadets be warned of this known predator before being sent to a ship during Sea Year.

As of October 28, 2021 MLAA has not received any response from DOT, MARAD, or USMMA officials regarding the warning, and there is no indication that any USMMA Cadets have been warned of his presence in the U.S. Merchant Marine.