1

5 Lookout Lane Washington Crossing, P.A. 18977 July 6, 2015 Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington D.C. 20530 Via certified mail Dear Attorney General Lynch: My name is Bennett Barlyn. I am writing to express my concern about apparent conflicts between Governor Christies administration and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of New Jersey that may be compromising the latters independent role relating to the enforcement of federal criminal law. This conflict is largely based on the prevalence of former federal prosecutors who served and continue to serve in highly placed positions in the Christie administration. On October 11, 2013, the New York Times published a front-page investigative piece (attached) about the circumstances surrounding my termination as an assistant prosecutor with the Hunterdon County Prosecutors Office by the Christie administration. At that time, I served as the Chief of Appeals, Drug Court and Policy. As recounted in the news article, the New Jersey Attorney General terminated me from my county position specifically because I objected to that offices preemptive dismissal of a 43-count indictment obtained several months earlier by veteran county prosecutors and detectives with my office. By letter (attached) dated April 26, 2014, I wrote to United States Attorney Paul Fishman asking that his office conduct an investigation to determine whether violations of federal criminal law had occurred in connection with the Attorney Generals takeover and subsequent dismissal of a local corruption prosecution. I emphasized that I and other career prosecutors in Hunterdon County had unsuccessfully pursued all avenues of redress at the state level regarding wrongdoing by New Jerseys chief law enforcement official. Two months later, I received a letter (attached) dated June 12, 2014, from Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Fortier Imbert. Mr. Imbert directed me to an investigator in his office named Thomas J. Mahoney and noted that it was not apparent on the face of your submission that there have been potential violations of federal criminal law.

2

I immediately contacted Investigator Mahoney and sent him, via e-mail, a substantial amount of carefully selected documentary evidence that corroborate the allegations of wrongdoing. Put bluntly, Investigator Mahoney flatly ignored all efforts on my part to communicate with him about the case. By letter (attached) dated December 18, 2014, I wrote to Assistant U.S. Attorney Imbert upon discovering that the criminal defendants in the Hunterdon matter had identified Investigator Mahoney as a witness on their behalf in a civil suit brought against Hunterdon County arising from their aborted prosecution. I also noted that numerous state officials implicated in the matter are former federal prosecutors. In late January, a federal criminal investigator contacted me for an interview. I assumed at the time that my second letter to Mr. Fishman had prompted the call. Approximately a week later in early February, the investigator and a colleague met me at my home in Pennsylvania, at which time we discussed the case for approximately an hour and a half. In addition, I gave the investigators a flash drive containing more documentary evidence that had surfaced since my first letter to Mr. Fishman. Shortly thereafter, the media reported that the meeting had taken place. Days later, a spokesperson for Mr. Fishman sharply deviated that offices longstanding practice of neither confirming nor denying to reporters a pending or ongoing investigation. Specifically, he told an ABC reporter that Christie was not the target of the investigation. The spokesperson, Mathew Reilly, was also quoted as stating, We talk to people all the time. It doesnt mean were investigating anybody. The remarks immediately confirmed my suspicion that the interview was not conducted as part of a genuine inquiry, but was instead intended to placate me and forestall my efforts to bring the Hunterdon matter to the attention of Main Justice. Importantly, neither nor I nor the career prosecutors who witnessed the events underlying the New York Times story have been contacted by Mr. Fishmans office despite our stated willingness to discuss the case. Tellingly, a Christie spokesman subsequently told the media that the meeting was merely a courtesy interview. With this as backdrop, it is a well-publicized fact that Governor Christies administration was and remains heavily staffed by numerous colleagues who served under him during his tenure as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. These include all three state attorneys general, including the present acting attorney general, John J. Hoffman. Remarkably, the International Business Times recently reported that Thomas Mahoney, who evidently served as a lead investigator in the George Washington Bridge (GWB) investigation, was in fact hired by then U.S. Attorney Christie on October 1, 2006.

3

Beyond my personal experience with Mr. Fishmans office, certain issues arising in connection with the federal GWB and Port Authority investigations implicate what I believe are legitimate concerns about Mr. Fishmans impartiality. The first is a mysterious leak that media outlets directly attributed to federal authorities which surfaced on or around September 22, 2014. The leak exonerated Governor Christie of any involvement in the closing of the GWB traffic lanes. The second is the evidently central role of a Christie hire, Thomas Mahoney, in the GWB investigation itself. More recently, defense attorneys representing two of the defendants charged by Mr. Fishman for their roles in closing the GWB lanes -- Bridget Kelly and William Baroni have separately challenged a highly unusual effort by Mr. Fishmans staff to classify as confidential approximately 1.5 million pages of presumably incriminating evidence. Notably, the defense attorneys maintain that the confidentiality order is being sought by Mr. Fishman specifically to protect both the governor and his staff. In another rare practice, Mr. Fishman recently provided, at their request, so-called clearance letters to Lt. Governor Gov. Kim Guadagno and former Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable in connection with allegations of official wrongdoing leveled against them by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer. Zimmer had publically accused both Guadagno and Constable of threatening to withhold Hurricane Sandy relief aid if she did not approve a politically connected development deal involving former Port Authority Commissioner David Samson. Both Guadagno and Constable are former federal prosecutors. Regarding Mr. Samson, he is currently represented by former United States Attorney Michael Chertoff. Mr. Chertoff was Mr. Fishmans longtime supervisor and apparent mentor when Mr. Fishman served under him as an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the District of New Jersey office. It is a bedrock principle long embedded in both decisional authority and professional standards of conduct that prosecutors must scrupulously avoid conflicts of interest in order to maintain the confidence of the public whose interest they are sworn to impartially serve. Based on the foregoing, it is difficult to conclude that Mr. Fishmans views on apparent conflicts of interest are as exacting. Regardless, should the Justice Department wish to investigate the events in Hunterdon, I and other former prosecutors are more than willing to provide whatever assistance is required.

4

Thank you very much for your attention in this matter. Sincerely, Bennett Barlyn, Esq. Encl. Cc: Raymond Hulser, Acting Chief, Public Integrity Section Paul J. Fishman, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey