The Special Inspector General

Christy L. Romero is Deputy Special Inspector General of SIGTARP.

Ms. Romero became Acting Special Inspector General on March 31, 2011, after serving nearly two years as Deputy Special Inspector General and Chief of Staff. She served as the Acting Special Inspector General through October 26, 2011, under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. As the Deputy Special Inspector General, she continues to lead the agency’s staff of Federal agents, attorneys, investigators, and auditors. The agency investigates fraud, waste, and abuse related to TARP and provides oversight of the program to protect taxpayer investments in more than 700 financial institutions, the markets for asset-backed securities, the auto industry, and housing programs.

Ms. Romero came to SIGTARP from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission where she served as an attorney in the Division of Enforcement investigating financial fraud, insider trading, abusive short selling by hedge funds, market manipulation, and violations of foreign bribery laws. From December 2007 through August 2009, during some of the most challenging market conditions in the agency's history, Ms. Romero served as counsel to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro and former Chairman Christopher Cox. As Chairman’s counsel, Ms. Romero assisted in the development and execution of the SEC's programs across the entire agency to promote investor protection, healthy markets, and capital formation. She also served as liaison to Commissioners and senior agency staff on rulemaking, policy, operations, and enforcement matters, with particular emphasis on the most complex enforcement cases related to the financial crisis, including financial fraud, subprime mortgage-backed securities, and auction rate securities.

Prior to joining the SEC, Ms. Romero served as counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Ms. Romero clerked for the Honorable Robert C. Jones, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Nevada and Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, and is a cum laude graduate of Brigham Young University Law School.