Grassley Seeks Sweeping Review into Allegations of Whistleblower Reprisal, Ethics Violations at Veterans Benefits Administration
Following review of whistleblower complaints, documents, Grassley pushes VA, Inspector General, and SEC for Transparency
WASHINGTON
– Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, is pushing for information and transparency after whistleblowers
allege significant ethics lapses and potential leaks of market-sensitive
information at the Veterans Benefits Administration, a division of the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
Grassley
is seeking information regarding Charmain Bogue’s failure to disclose her
husband’s income and employment at a firm that directly did business with the
VBA. He is also seeking a commitment from the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) to comply with pending and future FOIA requests on this matter in a timely
manner.
The
whistleblower allegations revolve around an alleged VA Office of General
Counsel memorandum that determined Charmain Bogue should recuse herself from
any and all VA matters involving her husband’s firms. The whistleblowers
further allege that, after internal warnings about the need to protect
market-sensitive information, that information may have been leaked, which was
then publicly traded on, potentially affecting stock prices and retail
investors.
In
seeking a broad set of information and transparency, Grassley wrote to
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, Department of Veterans Affairs
Inspector General Michael Missal, and Acting Chairwoman Allison Lee of the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
In
his letter to the VA, Grassley requests records relating to ethics
determinations related to current and former senior officials at the VA, the
steps the VA takes to protect retail investors by safeguarding market-sensitive
information, any internal investigations of such information leaking, and the
VA’s attempts to block information released through FOIA requests relating to
these matters.
Grassley
is seeking a review of these potential ethics violations and disclosures
failures from the inspector general, and asking whether the SEC is aware of
these allegations and what steps the commissioner takes to distribute guidance
to federal agencies on the importance and necessity of protecting sensitive
information that could affect financial markets.
Full
text of Grassley’s letters follow:
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