Lawsuit Against U.S. Maritime Administration Regarding Sexual Abuse Coverups at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

The Amended Complaint alleged that the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) engaged in an intentional, decades-long effort to coverup the sexual abuse of cadet-midshipman from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy during their at-sea training period known as “Sea Year.”

The Amended Complaint alleged that MARAD leaders and lawyers knew about the crimes, yet hid the crimes from law enforcement, Congress, and the public in order to keep the Sea Year program running smoothly, and to keep hundreds of millions of dollars in annual federal subsidies to the shipping companies flowing smoothly through the agency.

The lawsuit sought records relating to these MARAD and USMMA sexual abuse coverups, as well as communications between MARAD and shipping companies, and communications between MARAD and Congress.

According to the Amended Complaint”

“…in 1974 the USMMA began admitting women, and in 1975 the Academy began sending female cadets out on their Sea Years. These women, who were in their late teens and early 20’s, were shipped out on working cargo ships manned by hardened seaman, just like the male Cadets. Aboard these ships they were generally the only women, or sometimes the only woman, and the inevitable sexual harassment and abuse of these women ensued. Thus began what has been referred to within the USMMA and MARAD for nearly 50 years as “the female cadet problem.”

“Since 1975, incidents of sexual abuse were frequently reported to MARAD and the USMMA by both male and female students. However, MARAD’s response to these reports has been to systematically coverup the crimes and misconduct to avoid embarrassment and loss of reputation to their agency and the USMMA, as well as to protect the reputational and financial interests of the commercial vessel operators who MARAD has relied upon to operate the Sea Year program. See CNN, “Culture of fear at Merchant Marine Academy silences students who say they were sexually harassed and assaulted.”

This ground-breaking lawsuit was one of several lawsuits that were part of a years-long investigative effort by Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy (MLAA), attorney Ryan Melogy, and CNN reporters Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken. Documents and records obtained from the FOIA request and eventual lawsuit against MARAD were used in Ellis and Hicken’s expose of the culture of coverups at MARAD and the USMMA titled, “Culture of fear at Merchant Marine Academy silences students who say they were sexually harassed and assaulted” as well as in other stories about the sexual abuse problem at the Merchant Marine Academy.

• February 9, 2023: Justice4Mariners and U.S. Department of Justice file Stipulation and Order of Dismissal, ending the litigation [MIGRATION FAILED].
• June 20, 2022: Amended Complaint filed by Justice4Mariners against the U.S. Maritime Administration.

• CNN: Culture of fear at Merchant Marine Academy silences students who say they were sexually harassed and assaulted
• CNN: Sexual assault victims at the US Merchant Marine Academy reluctant to trigger investigations amid culture of fear
• MaritimeLegalAid.com: MLAA Files Amended Complaint in Lawsuit Against MARAD. Suit Now Seeks MSP Operating Agreements, EMBARC Submissions, & SCCT Communications Between MARAD & Vessel Operators