Laura Wertheimer was under fire from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

Laura Wertheimer was under fire from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Embattled Housing Finance Agency IG Steps Down

An IG oversight body found Laura Wertheimer “engaged in conduct that undermines the integrity reasonably expected of an IG.”

The Federal Housing Finance Agency inspector general told colleagues on Tuesday she planned to step down next month. Her announcement followed investigations from a federal watchdog and a pair of Republican senators that found a pattern of misconduct and abuse of authority, although she did not cite that as the reason for her departure. 

Laura Wertheimer was under fire from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who sent letters to President Biden on April 14 and 28, respectively, about their separate investigations into top leadership at the FHFA IG office regarding whistleblower complaints starting in 2017. The issues were centered on Wertheimer, who was nominated by former President Obama and confirmed in 2014.

On Tuesday, Wertheimer said in a “dear colleagues” letter, shared with Government Executive, that she would step down after seven years on the job. “With the departure of [FHFA] Director [Mark] Calabria, I believe President Biden should have the opportunity to fill both the FHFA Director and IG positions with his own nominees,” she wrote. “For that reason, I am writing to let you know that I have made the decision to leave this position, effective July 30, 2021. When I joined FHFA-OIG, I had no intention of staying for seven years but found that OIG is a place where one’s service can make a real difference in protecting the interests of American taxpayers.”

Following a Supreme Court ruling last Wednesday that deemed the FHFA’s structure unconstitutional, President Biden ousted Calabria. 

In her letter, Wertheimer recapped the office’s accomplishments under her watch. “Although the pandemic forced us to close our physical offices in March 2020, we were telework-ready and able to continue our mission of conducting oversight to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of FHFA’s programs and operations and to prevent and detect fraud, waste and abuse,” she wrote. “Investments in our information infrastructure, advance planning, and the dedication of our support staff enabled us to transition, seamlessly, to telework collaboratively and securely. And as our country begins to emerge from this pandemic, FHFA-OIG has not missed a beat in fulfilling its mission.” 

The CIGIE report on Wertheimer’s leadership painted a far different picture. “The [Integrity Committee] finds by a preponderance of evidence that IG Wertheimer abused her authority in the exercise of her official duties and engaged in conduct that undermines the integrity reasonably expected of an IG,” wrote committee chair Kevin Winters in the April letter. She “showed a disdain and resistance towards congressional and IC oversight by fostering a culture of witness intimidation through a pattern of staff abuse and fear of retaliation. Furthermore, she wrongfully refused to cooperate with the IC’s investigation by denying the IC investigators full access to FHFA OIG personnel and documents.” CIGIE recommended her removal. 

Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., also called for Wertheimer’s removal. 

Emmet Flood, an attorney at Williams & Connolly LLP who is representing Wertheimer, previously told Government Executive in a statement, Wertheimer “has been a superlative IG and members of her oversight committee have commended her for her frankness, courage and service,” nothing that she and her staff won the 2019 CIGIE Government Ethics Award for Excellence. “Anyone with an interest in her performance as IG can consult the FHFA-OIG website, where the record of her team’s accomplishments is public, extensive and incontestable.” The 2019 award was for the team’s investigation into allegations of misconduct by the then-FHFA director. 

Jennifer Byrne, associate FHFA IG, lauded the outgoing IG in a statement.

“I joined FHFA-OIG after a career of more than twenty years with other government agencies," she said. "Laura Wertheimer’s leadership, intellect and work ethic transformed FHFA-OIG. The numbers tell the story. She not only produced award-winning results while increasing efficiency and reducing costs, she did so while significantly improving employee retention. Her wisdom, integrity, and judgment will be sorely missed by her colleagues who have worked closely with her for many years.”

Update: This article has been updated with comment from the associate FHFA IG. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.