A top Wall Street regulator is making moves that could lead to the ouster of its inspector general after an independent probe found he had disclosed the identities of whistleblowers, wasted money and disparaged agency employees.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is taking initial steps to put Inspector General A. Roy Lavik on administrative leave, according to people with knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified discussing internal agency deliberations. The effort follows a February report from a panel of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, a government entity that serves as the watchdog of the federal watchdogs.
The commission plans to take next steps in the process of removing him in the coming weeks and has informed the House and Senate Agriculture committees of its actions, according to the people familiar with the matter. Those panels have oversight over the CFTC. No final decision has been made.
Lavik, who has held his post for decades, and the Office of the Inspector General didn’t respond to requests for comment. The CFTC declined to comment.
In its February report, the panel of the CIGIE found that Lavik “grossly” mismanaged his office and engaged in “substantial misconduct” when he disclosed internal whistleblowers’ identities by sharing unredacted copies of inspector general reports with Congress and commissioners, the panel found.
Lavik disagreed that he had violated whistleblower...
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