A former Justice Department Inspector General is reportedly likely to head up an investigation of alleged sexual misconduct by staff members of the Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Inspector General.
Michael Bromwich
A spokesman for Michael Bromwich, the department’s top internal watchdog from 1994 to 1999, declined to comment about the situation on Monday, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Bromwich, also former director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, recently became a partner at Goodwin Procter LLP and runs an outside consulting firm.
He built a reputation as an unflinching investigator, most famously carrying out probes of the FBI laboratory’s defective procedures. He also served as the monitor for D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department and investigated the city of Houston’s police crime lab.
The SEC probe of current and past staff members focuses on a complaint that alleges the misconduct may have compromised SEC investigations, the Wall Street Journal reported. SEC spokesman John Nester told the Journal that the SEC has plans to hire an independent investigator.
David Kotz, SEC inspector general from 2007 to January 2012, was the office’s chief at the time of the alleged misconduct. Kotz told the Wall Street Journal that he does not believe the allegations involve him.
