Ben Stevens’ Boss At Sea Is Big Time Fed ContractorWho would have guessed the company that recently swept Ben Stevens off to sea amidst his — and his father’s — compounding legal woes also happens to be a major federal contractor? Roll Call did.
The younger Stevens took a job aboard a Bering Marine Corp. vessel in hopes of raising some cash to cover his mounting legal expenses. Apparently the consulting fees he earned over the years— $775,000 from various seafood companies and $240,000 from Veco — are running out.
Bering Marine is a subsidiary of transportation company Lynden.
Lynden CEO Jim Jansen has had long-standing ties to Ben Stevens. According to Opensecrets.org, Lynden paid Stevens $10,000 to work as a federal lobbyist in 1997.Additionally, Jansen and Ben Stevens both served on the board of directors of the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, a nonprofit organization created by Ted Stevens to funnel millions in federal dollars to the state’s fishing industry. The FBI and IRS are investigating both Stevens and the members of the AFMB’s board of directors as part of the widening federal probe.
Over the past several years, Lynden companies have secured scores of federal contracts, according to federal records compiled by FedSpending.org. Since 2000, the various companies connected to Lynden and the Jansen family have received at least $312 million in federal funding, much of it coming through contracts with the Department of Defense.
Still no word on when Stevens will be back on land.