FDIC Calls in Monitor After Workplace Culture Meltdown

WASHINGTON D.C. – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) isn’t known for street brawls, but a quiet crisis has been brewing beneath the surface. Following a damning independent review exposing a “safe, fair, and inclusive work environment” that was anything but, the agency’s board has tapped Carrie H. Cohen, a partner at Morrison Foerster LLP, to serve as its independent transformation monitor. This isn’t about bank robberies; it’s about a deeply troubled internal culture that allegedly fostered harassment and discrimination.

The FDIC board announced the selection of Cohen on August 21, 2024, after a competitive bidding process. Cohen’s job? To audit the FDIC’s attempt to fix the mess outlined in its own “Action Plan,” and report monthly to both the board *and* the employees – a level of transparency that suggests the problems run deep. She’ll be digging into whether the agency is actually following through on promises to address systemic issues.

Cohen isn’t a rookie when it comes to cleaning up messes. Her resume reads like a who’s who of high-profile investigations. She’s a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and previously served as an Assistant Attorney General for the New York State Attorney General’s (NYAG) office. Crucially, she’s got extensive experience *designing* and *assessing* monitorships – essentially, being a watchdog for organizations under scrutiny. She even developed a monitorship for the New York City Council to address workplace culture issues.

At the NYAG’s office, Cohen wasn’t just observing; she was building these systems from the ground up. She designed monitorships tied to consent decrees in sexual harassment and discrimination cases, and then audited their effectiveness. She also spent years evaluating a lengthy monitorship of a labor union related to racial discrimination and barriers to apprenticeship programs. This isn’t just about ticking boxes; Cohen has a track record of getting into the weeds and demanding real change.

The FDIC’s decision to bring in an outside monitor is a tacit admission that internal efforts haven’t been enough. The agency solicited proposals from law firms and consulting firms, suggesting they recognized the scale of the problem. While the details of the initial independent review remain largely shielded from public view, the appointment of Cohen signals that the FDIC is finally taking the allegations seriously – and that someone is going to be held accountable, even if it’s just a systemic overhaul of bad practices.

Grimy Times will continue to follow this developing story. The FDIC, an agency tasked with safeguarding the financial system, can’t afford a culture of silence and abuse. The question now is whether Cohen’s audit will expose the full extent of the rot – and whether the FDIC will actually listen to what she finds. The Request for Proposals for the Transformation Monitor can be found attached. Media inquiries should be directed to the FDIC’s media contact.