JANUARY 24, 2013 — Philip Shapiro's Liberty Maritime Corporation and several other Liberty companies yesterday filed a civil action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against the U.S. Maritime Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation alleging violations of law in the administration of the Maritime Security Program dating back to 2005.

Defendants named in the suit include David T. Matsuda, in his official capacity as United States Maritime Administrator and Raymond H. LaHood, in his official capacity as United States Secretary of Transportation.

Mr. Shapiro, who is President and CEO of Liberty Maritime stated: "MARAD has failed in its responsibility to distinguish between actual U.S. citizen companies and entities masquerading as U.S. citizens for the purpose of conveying the benefits ofMSP to foreign companies."

Liberty also alleges that MARAD unlawfully departed from open and transparent program administration from 1996-2005 and has conducted all MSP business in secret since then contributing to the several alleged Administration errors.

The Action is particularly relevant because MSP was recently amended by Congress, and MARAD is in the process of preparing offers to existing contractors.

Liberty asserts that at least two of those contractors should be ineligible for new contracts because they are under non-citizen control and because they otherwise should have been found to be ineligible for MSP.

Read Liberty's complaint HERE