A U.S. Marshals Service attorney moonlighting as a statistician for Fox Sports regularly had federal agents drive him to and from sporting events, sometimes also shuttling broadcasters Tim McCarver, Troy Aikman and Joe Buck, according to a report from Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine.
The 44-page report released Monday found that agency attorney Joseph Band used deputy marshals in government vehicles to haul him to and from games including the 2007 World Series in Boston, the 2007 college football championship game and the 2008 Super Bowl in Phoenix.
According to the report: Band, whom Fox paid about $150 per game, occasionally offered to provide escorts for the broadcast stars to the motels, airports and stadiums. Sometimes the sportscasters rode with Band, sometimes the marshals’ car was used as the lead vehicle in a motorcade. Sometimes the deputy marshals hit the emergency lights to pass through.
The report concluded that Band, who was a member of the U.S. Marshals “ethics team,” violated the standards of ethical conduct and “lacked candor” during the investigation.
Band, who also has worked as a spotter and statistician for the Washington Redskins for 37 years, has resigned from the general counsel office in Washington, where he had been employed since 1992, a spokeswoman said. Federal prosecutors declined to prosecute the violations.
Fox Sports spokesman Lou D’Ermilio said the company was not aware that the arrangements offered by Band were inappropriate.
The investigation also chastised three U.S. Marshals for inappropriately approving Band’s requests to use government resources for his personal business.
Not all the marshals approved Band’s requests. When Band called U.S. Marshal Frederico Rocha in San Francisco to say he was flying out to work the game with Buck and Aikman and would need assistance, Rocha told Band he could “take a taxi or trolley to the ballpark.”
