Special Inquiry of the FDIC’s Workplace Culture with Respect to Harassment and Related Misconduct

The OIG has issued Part 2 of its Special Inquiry on the FDIC’s Workplace Culture with Respect to Harassment and Related Misconduct.  This report is a follow-on to Part 1 of our report, issued in December 2024.

Our objective in Part 2 was to provide factual findings regarding selected allegations that senior officials personally engaged in harassment or related misconduct.

An Agency’s overall performance and reputation can be undermined by employee perceptions that an Agency’s workplace culture does not demonstrate commitment to its core values.  In addition, if management does not hold personnel accountable and foster an environment where employees can report harassment and related misconduct without fear of retaliation, employees will mistrust the Agency’s efforts.

The preliminary evidence we gathered led us to conduct investigations into allegations of harassment and related misconduct against five FDIC senior officials.  While the scope and severity of conduct varied, our investigations developed evidence supporting that each of the senior officials personally engaged in some degree of inappropriate workplace conduct. Our report discusses the factual evidence related to each official.

We also reviewed how the FDIC handled allegations against the senior officials and each official’s role in reviewing incoming allegations against each other.

Our investigations developed evidence supporting that certain actions of these senior officials did not protect victims of harassment, nor consistently align with the FDIC’s applicable policies and stated core values (including accountability, fairness, and integrity).

The evidence developed in our investigations also corroborated the validity of employee perceptions of FDIC culture that were described in Part 1 of this project.  In Part 1, the OIG reported that many of the employees we interviewed perceived that the FDIC would not effectively implement its action plan to address harassment because some of the executives leading the efforts have had allegations against them.

Our investigations developed evidence that three of the senior officials assisted one another in discreetly and expeditiously resolving complaints when allegations of misconduct arose against them.

In Part 1 of this report and in our 2024 report on the FDIC’s Sexual Harassment Prevention Program, we made recommendations to improve reporting, investigative, and disciplinary processes for harassment issues.  The FDIC is continuing to implement these recommendations.  Upon completion of this administrative investigation, we provided our factual findings to the FDIC for their review and action.

FDIC Management in turn responded on July 25, 2025, indicating that there is no higher priority than ensuring every person at the agency feels safe, valued, and respected.  The response lists corrective actions taken to implement an effective anti-harassment program structure.  It also includes actions taken with respect to the senior leaders who were the subjects of our review, none of whom remain employed by the FDIC. The FDIC stated that in response to the OIG’s investigations of the five senior officials discussed in this report, the FDIC reviewed the reports of investigation, conducted its own investigations in several cases, and took corrective action, as appropriate.

The response further noted that the FDIC is under new leadership, including a new Acting Chairman, new Board Members, and new executive leadership atop the majority of FDIC Divisions and Offices, which report directly to the Acting Chairman.  As well, reoccurring training is on the horizon, along with an improved complaint tracking system and a climate assessment and surveys to monitor Agency progress in these areas.