Investigative Reports

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated an inquiry on March 10, 2022, based on a referral from the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) that an agency employee with the Office of General Counsel (OGC) had lost her FEC laptop and may have failed to promptly report the loss in accordance with FEC policy.

The former counselor did not appropriately notify the Ethics Office of employment negotiations and misused their position regarding former associates.

By disclosing nonpublic information, the employees violated regulations that prohibit providing preferential treatment to any private organization.

An Amtrak operation supervisor based in Miami resigned from the company on May 31, 2022, after he failed to respond to company letters advising him to report as available for duty. Prior to his resignation, we conducted an investigation and found that he violated company policies by engaging in self-employment as an independent realtor while on a medical leave of absence and while receiving short-term disability benefits. The company issued the employee a Notice of Investigation following the issuance of our investigative report and he failed to report to work.

An Amtrak conductor based in Miami, Florida, resigned from his position on April 12, 2022, prior to his administrative hearing. Our investigation found that the former employee violated company policies by stealing supplies from a contractor doing business with Amtrak. The former employee was captured on video entering the contractor’s building, which is co-located at the Amtrak yard, and stealing the supplies and loading them into the trunk of his personally-owned car.

We investigated allegations that former DOI Secretary David Bernhardt violated the Lobbying Disclosure Act before joining the DOI as Deputy Secretary.

The tribal official profited from awarding contracts that resulted in his company receiving subcontracts, but no policy prohibited his actions.