Christy Goldsmith Romero

Christy Goldsmith Romero is an American lawyer and federal government official. She serves as the Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a federal law enforcement agency and an independent audit watchdog that targets financial institution crime and other fraud, waste, and abuse related to the TARP bailout. In this capacity, she investigates financial institution crime related to the TARP bailout. Notable investigations by SIGTARP include Wilmington Trust, Sonoma Valley Bank, General Motors, United Commercial Bank, Morgan Stanley, Ally Financial, Bank of the Commonwealth, Jefferies, RBS, and SunTrust.[1]

Christy Romero
Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program
Assumed office
April 1, 2011
Acting: April 1, 2011 – February 1, 2012
PresidentBarack Obama
Donald Trump
Preceded byNeil Barofsky
Personal details
EducationOld Dominion University (BS)
Brigham Young University, Utah (JD)

Early life

Christy Goldsmith Romero graduated from Old Dominion University, where she earned a bachelor of science in business.[2] She subsequently earned a JD from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.[2]

Career

Goldsmith Romero began her career as a clerk to Judge Robert Clive Jones.[2] She subsequently worked for the law firms Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Snell & Wilmer and Jenner & Block.[2] She investigated financial institution fraud, insider trading, and other violations of securities law as an attorney in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement from 2003 to 2007.[2] Goldsmith Romero also served as counsel to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, a Republican, and SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, an Independent. Goldsmith Romero has worked for the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program since 2009.[2][3] She has served as the Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program since April 9, 2012.[2]

In October 2016, Goldsmith Romero called on Congress to pass legislation which would require senior executives at the six largest Wall Street banks that took TARP bailout funds to sign an annual certification to law enforcement that they have conducted due diligence and can certify that there is no criminal conduct or civil fraud within their organization.[4][5] As a result of SIGTARP investigations, 430 defendants have been criminally charged. Nearly 300 defendants have been sentenced to prison, including 76 bankers and 85 of their co-conspirators. The bankers sentenced include many presidents, chief executive officers and other executives at medium and small bankers. SIGTARP investigations have also led to 24 enforcement actions against banks and other companies.[6] In comparison, she said, "we have faced significant difficulties proving criminal intent of senior officials in large organizations that are designed to insulate high level officials from knowing about crime or civil fraud." [7] And in October 2017, describing the threat of financial institution fraud as "so serious and harmful as to require constant law enforcement expertise with dedicated resources," she called for a permanent law enforcement office with a narrow mandate to investigate financial institution fraud. [8]

In May 2017, Goldsmith Romero expressed concern over President Trump's budget cuts, saying they would interfere with the agency's ability to "conduct ongoing and new criminal investigations."[9] In August 2017, she told the Financial Times, "Our nation cannot afford to take our eye off the ball when it comes to crime or other illegal practices inside banks that require law enforcement response."[10]

Goldsmith Romero has testified before Congress on the auto bailout, executive pay, and the Hardest Hit Fund, among other issues.[11]

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References
  1. https://www.sigtarp.gov/investigations
  2. "The Special Inspector General". Office of the Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  3. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/business/dealbook/the-big-fish-seen-escaping-an-agency-pursuing-bank-fraud.html
  4. Merle, Renae (October 26, 2016). "This obscure government agency has a plan to put Wall Street CEOs in prison". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  5. Levitz, Eric (October 26, 2016). "Federal Bureaucrats Unveil New Plan to Put Wall Street CEOs in Prison". New York Magazine. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  6. https://www.sigtarp.gov/Pages/Home.aspx
  7. https://www.sigtarp.gov/Pages/Proposal_2017Q1.aspx
  8. "The Special Inspector General". Office of the Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  9. Merle, Renae (May 23, 2017). "Trump's budget could make it harder to investigate banks that received taxpayer bailouts". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  10. Scannell, Kara (August 6, 2017). "US haul from credit crisis bank fines hits $150bn". Financial Times. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  11. "Christy Goldsmith Romero | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
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