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ANBeTFMcGreme DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE eee WASHINGTON 25, D.C. 61-79-12 . i Za $853 MEMORANDUM FOR MR. J. EDGAR HOOVER ~ DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGAT if Mr. i Go. oman Rez: Tanker MEMORY, et al. — North Miss Gat U7 ecomaay American Shipping & Trading Coe; ne Niarchos and Onassis, ee rmes St D2 A aL TY bla TT ER 1. The Department has filed libels for the forfeiture of the following vessels belonging to the Niarchos group: SEvial\ SEAS JEAN ME a MONITOR \” In addition, a libel nse tase bees. filed against one vessel of ~ the Onassis group, the FORT BRIDGER. These libels have been filed in the Eastern District of Virginia and also in the Southern District. of New York. . When the vessels.come back to...... ....- ~~ the United States, we shall have the libels presently on file = © transferred to the district where the vessel arrives. The libels had to be filed because of a five-year statute of limitations which is tolled by the commencement of the law- suit. They generally follow the legal theories which were litigated in the Meacham case, 107 F. Supp. 997, which has been appealed to the Fourth Circuit by the omer of the MEACHAM, 2. The first of the Niarchos vessels is expected to come back to some North Atlantic Port, north of Hatteras, around the second week of February, 1953. We do not yet have any definite word as to whether the ports of destination will be Norfolk, ae, Baltimore, Philadelphia, one of the New Jersey oil ports, the y Staten Island oil ports, or Everett, Massachusetts, The litigee (/ \ tion will start promptly. 3. It is expected that other Niarchos ships which are presently in the Pacific will arrive at Los Angeles harbor with oil from the Persian Gulf or Borneo, The litigation on the West Coast will be handled by Keith R. Ferguson, £sq., Admiralt; eda .. Shipping Section, Dept. of Justice, P. 0. Box 502, on Be) California, with the assistance of our Admiralty & Shi ppine if ad here. Ferguson took testimony in the Meacham case dnd js_a ay a a 7 CO Mraw bal OD - t —