Ernst: Rot at FDIC Runs Even Deeper

WASHINGTON – Following Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) senior official Mark A. Black’s guilty plea on child pornography production charges, Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is following up on her promise to hold bureaucrats at the FDIC accountable for its culture of sexual misconduct.

Ernst once again brought heinous actions of FDIC officials to the attention of its Chairman, Martin Gruenberg, by writing,“While the plights of working adult women of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) may not move you to respond to a congressional oversight request, perhaps an inquiry into an FDIC employee producing child pornography will.”

In light of the fact that Mr. Black continued to receive his $243,500 annual salary for nearly three months after the FBI executed a search warrant on his home and about six weeks after being indicted, Ernst demanded answers regarding who at the FDIC chose not to expedite Mr. Black’s removal, what changes are being made to ensure full action is taken in all applicable cases, and whether he is still eligible to receive a pension or any other financial benefit from the FDIC.

She also re-upped her calls for an investigation to cleanse this workplace culture by requesting the FDIC’s Inspector General ensure employees responsible for heinous acts at the FDIC are fired. Specifically, Ernst requested that he make recommendations for a top-to-bottom overhaul of the policies and procedures the FDIC uses in its day-to-day operations, create accountability so all whistleblowers’ concerns are answered, and conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the FDIC’s hotel scandal, as well as relay the information Chairman Gruenberg failed to answer in Ernst’s November request.

“As I wrote to Chairman Gruenberg, there must be real ramifications for those found to be responsible—both past and present—for committing the heinous acts, as well as those who allowed those monsters to run rampant in the FDIC for far too long. The FDIC has the power to fire these employees. You must do all in your power to ensure they do so. As I am sure you would agree, the women of the FDIC deserve not only a top-to-bottom overhaul of their workplace, they deserve justice as well. This means criminal referrals when warranted. It means forcefully urging the agency to fire employees found to have perpetrated misconduct rather than reshuffling the deck. It means recommending a top-to-bottom overhaul of the policies and procedures the FDIC uses in its day-to-day management operations. Perhaps nothing encapsulates the FDIC’s dire need for a cleaning of the house than Mr. Mark Black’s announced guilty plea on charges to produce child pornography, and coercion and enticement,” Ernst wrote.

“It is past time to rebuild the FDIC’s failing reputation,” Ernst concluded.

Read her full letter to Chairman Gruenberg here. Read her full letter to the FDIC Office of Inspector General here.

Background:

After reports of sexual harassment and discrimination at the FDIC, Ernst was one of the first senators to call for FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg’s resignation. In November, she followed up by conducting critical oversight of this behavior at the FDIC and demanding any evidence of criminal wrongdoing by agency employees be turned over to the Department of Justice and local law enforcement for potential prosecution.

After the FDIC blew through her deadline for a response without answering her oversight questions, she introducedlegislation to ensure federal employees and contractors who are found guilty of sexual misconduct face serious consequences for their actions, including termination.

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