Office of the Special Inspector 

General for TARP

(SIGTARP)

Congressional Budget 

Justification and Annual 

Performance Report and Plan

FY 2020
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Table of Contents

Section I – Budget Request............................................................................................................. 3

A – Mission Statement...................................................................................................................3

B – Summary of the Request .........................................................................................................3

Special Inspector General’s Comments........................................................................................ 3

1.1 – Appropriations Detail Table............................................................................................................5

1.2 – Budget Adjustments Table..............................................................................................................6

C – Budget Increases and Decreases Description..........................................................................6

1.3 – Operating Levels Table...................................................................................................................7

D – Appropriations Language and Explanation of Changes .........................................................8

Section II – Annual Performance Plan and Report..................................................................... 9

A – Strategic Alignment ................................................................................................................9

B – Budget and Performance by Budget Activity .......................................................................10

2.1.1 – Investigations Resources and Measures.....................................................................................10

Investigations Budget and Performance ......................................................................................11

2.1.2 – Audit Resources and Measures..................................................................................................11

Audit Budget and Performance....................................................................................................11

Section III – Additional Information........................................................................................... 11

A – Summary of Capital Investments..........................................................................................11
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Section I – Budget Request

A – Mission Statement

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) is 

a Federal law enforcement agency and an independent audit watchdog that targets financial 

institution crime, and other fraud, waste, and abuse related to TARP. Protecting Americans, 

taxpayer dollars, and TARP programs drives SIGTARP’s mission. 

B – Summary of the Request 

The FY 2020 Budget proposes $17,500,000,1 a 49 percent reduction from both the FY 2019 

Annualized CR level and the FY 2018 enacted level. The proposed budget is intended to fund the 

mandated independent oversight of TARP, which impacts all 50 states, to include the $34 billion

that has and will be spent through 2023 for TARP foreclosure prevention programs, such as the 

Making Home Affordable (MHA) and the Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) programs. Through FY 2018, 

banks, mortgage servicers, state agencies, thousands of contractors, and other recipients have 

already received $28 billion for TARP foreclosure prevention programs (nearly $3 billion that 

year), with nearly $6 billion left to spend through 2023. 

Special Inspector General’s Comments

Pursuant to section 6(f)(3)(E) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, as applied 

through the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, I have concluded that the President’s 

FY 2020 budget request of $17.5 million would substantially inhibit the Special Inspector General 

from performing the duties of the office. The President’s budget request is a 49 percent reduction 

from the FY 2018 enacted level and a 24 percent reduction from the FY 2019 enacted level, 

despite that TARP foreclosure prevention programs continue to spend (nearly $3 billion last year), 

and carry a high risk of fraud, waste, and abuse. I independently proposed an appropriation of 

$23 million for FY 2020, which is an additional $5.5 million, and I respectfully request that 

Congress consider this amount. That level is flat with the FY 2019 enacted level, and is a

32 percent reduction from the FY 2018 enacted level. 

The President’s budget request would substantially inhibit our oversight because it will require a 

reduction in staffing levels to cover increases in fixed mandatory operating costs paid to Treasury

and cost of living or other payroll increases. SIGTARP has experienced a recent increase in 

referrals, tips, and other information that have been used to open criminal and civil investigations 

into the open TARP programs, including MHA’s HAMP and HHF, and to audit those programs to 

prevent and detect waste and abuse. As more TARP dollars are spent in MHA and HHF, 

SIGTARP’s investigations and audits over that spending increases. Every TARP dollar spent is 

another dollar potentially subject to fraud, waste and abuse, increasing the need for and the 

number of investigations and waste-finding audits. As of September 30, 2018, TARP foreclosure 

prevention programs have spent over $28 billion with nearly $6 billion remaining to spend. When 

left unchecked, fraud, waste, and abuse in these programs can have a devastating impact on those 

the program are intended to help. There are currently 846,763 homeowners in HAMP, including 

participants from all 50 states. The Hardest Hit Fund, which Congress expanded with an additional 

 1 Includes $50,000 for training and $50,000 for the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.
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$2 billion and extended in FY 2016, continues to assist homeowners and homebuyers, and to fund 

blight demolition. SIGTARP’s request is less than 0.1 percent to investigate and audit over $28 

billion spent in MHA & HHF (before counting future TARP spending of nearly $6 billion).

SIGTARP investigations of TARP recipients lead to indictments, civil enforcement actions, and 

the recovery of dollars lost to fraud. SIGTARP audits identify waste and abuse that Treasury can 

recover, promote efficiency and effectiveness in TARP, and make recommendations to save costs

and prevent future fraud, waste, and abuse. In FY 2018, more than $314 million was recovered as 

a result of SIGTARP’s investigations, exceeding a nine times annual return on investment (ROI). 

Already in FY 2019, actual dollars recovered as a result of SIGTARP’s investigations are more 

than $290 million. 

SIGTARP has demonstrated that it is a solid investment for taxpayers, as SIGTARP has provided

the Federal government and other victims with cumulative recoveries of more than $10 billion – a 

31 times cumulative ROI from our annual budgets. This would rank SIGTARP as having the third 

highest ROI out of 18 OIGs reviewed by the Brookings Institution Center for Effective Public 

Management in its analysis of how cutting the budget of positive-revenue OIGs costs the 

government money and contributes to the Federal deficit.2

 

We appreciate strong Congressional support for our budget each year. Some of the significant 

completed and ongoing SIGTARP work over the last year includes:

• The Special Inspector General testified before the House Oversight Committee on SIGTARP’s 

audits that identified $11 million in waste and abuse by state agencies on holiday parties, 

family picnics, celebrations, a Mercedes Benz car allowance, steak and seafood dinners, large 

catered barbeque dinners with tiki torches, employee gifts, discrimination litigation, employee 

gym memberships, cash bonuses, expenses unrelated to HHF, and more. SIGTARP continues 

to audit travel and conference expenses.

• Our audit report found that most of the $9.6 billion Hardest Hit Fund program (which includes 

future spending of $1.3 billion) has no Federal competition requirements for contract awards. 

We reported that Treasury has not applied the Federal procurement standards, and 

recommended that they apply those standards.

• We warned in an evaluation report (based on findings by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) 

of the risk of asbestos exposure, illegal dumping, and contaminated soil in the HHF blight 

demolition program given the absence of industry safeguards. 

• We increased our investigations into TARP’s Hardest Hit Fund blight demolition program. 

This year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted an official on bribery charges related to 

awarding TARP-funded demolition-related contracts. DOJ also resolved a False Claims Act 

investigation against a multi-million TARP recipient – the primary HHF demolition contractor 

in Fort Wayne, Indiana – for dumping construction debris in the ground, covering it with clean 

dirt, and filing false claims for TARP dollars.

• SIGTARP expanded its investigations into TARP’s HAMP program. Treasury will continue to 

pay more than 130 financial institutions up to $3.9 billion to administer the program. Some 

institutions have enforcement records of violating the law and abusing consumers. The largest 

 2 Hudak, J. Wallack, G. (2015). Brookings Institution Center for Effective Public Management, Website: 

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/CEPMHudakWallackOIG.pdf.
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recipients of these future TARP funds include Ocwen Financial, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan 

Chase, Nationstar Mortgage, SPS, CitiMortgage, and CIT/One West Bank.

• SIGTARP continues to support the DOJ in prosecuting defendants we investigated. Courts 

have convicted 359 defendants investigated by SIGTARP, including 92 bankers. Courts 

sentenced 71 bankers to prison, including in the last year: 

o A Delaware Federal court sentenced to prison for up to six years, seven bank insiders at 

$330 million TARP recipient Wilmington Trust Corp. including the president and CFO 

for a massive fraud while the bank was in TARP when Treasury was a shareholder. The 

judge called it, “the worst financial crime in Delaware in at least the last 35 years.” The 

bank collapsed and was acquired by another bank; 

o A California Federal court sentenced to prison for more than 8 years each, the president 

of TARP recipient Sonoma Valley Bank and the chief lending officer, for a fraud that 

contributed to the failure of the bank; and

o A Kansas Federal court sentenced to prison for more than 5 years, the majority 

shareholder who virtually had complete control of TARP recipient Excel Bank for a 

crime that threatened the soundness of the bank that later failed.

We continue to deliver investigative and audit results, and maintain extremely high cumulative 

and annual returns on investment. Investing in SIGTARP is one of the most effective and efficient 

ways to protect the government. The government will receive far more than our budget in 

recovered dollars lost to fraud, in addition to cost savings. Our work ensures that TARP dollars are 

used as Congress intended, and that the government does not pay more for TARP than is 

necessary.

1.1 – Appropriations Detail Table

Dollars in Thousands

Special Inspector General for TARP

Appropriated Resources

New Appropriated Resources FTE AMOUNT FTE AMOUNT FTE AMOUNT FTE AMOUNT FTE AMOUNT

Investigations 103 $28,220 103 $28,900 75 $15,050 (28) ($13,850) -27.18% -47.92%

Audit 28 $5,780 22 $5,100 10 $2,450 (12) ($2,650) -54.55% -51.96%

Subtotal New Appropriated Resources 131 $34,000 125 $34,000 85 $17,500 (40) ($16,500) -32.00% -48.53%

Other Resources*

Unobligated Balances from Prior Years 0 $1,542 0 $0 10 $7,500 NA NA NA NA

Subtotal Other Resources 0 $1,542 0 $0 10 $7,500 NA NA NA NA

Total Budgetary Resources 131 $35,542 125 $34,000 95 $25,000 (30) ($9,000) -24.00% -26.47%

* This column reflects levels appropriated in P.L. 115-141, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018. For further details on the execution of these 

resources see the 2020 Budget Appendix chapter for the Department of the Treasury.

FY 2018 * FY 2019 FY 2019 to FY 2020

Enacted Annualized CR Request Change % Change

FY 2020

ctActualual
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1.2 – Budget Adjustments Table

Special Inspector General for TARP FTE Amount

FY 2019 Annualized CR 125 $34,000

Changes to Base:

Maintaining Current Levels (MCLs) 0 $190

Non-Pay 0 $190

Subtotal Changes to Base 0 $190

Total FY 2020 Base 125 $34,190

Program Changes:

Program Decreases (40) ($16,832)

Technical FTE Adjustment (Workforce Management) (30) ($5,600)

Realignment from Annual to No-Year (10) ($7,500)

Efficiency Savings 0 ($3,732)

Program Increases 0 $142

Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of Prior-year 

Enterprise-wide Cybersecurity investments 0 $142

Subtotal Program Changes (40) ($16,690)

Total FY 2020 Request 85 $17,500

Dollars in Thousands

C – Budget Increases and Decreases Description 

Maintaining Current Levels (MCLs) ............................................................+190,000 / +0 FTE

Non-Pay +$190,000 / +0 FTE

Funds are requested for non-labor expenses such as travel, rent, contracts, supplies, and 

equipment.

Program Decreases ..................................................................................-$16,832,000 / -40 FTE

Staff Reduction -$5,600,000 / -30 FTE

The technical adjustment reduces SIGTARP staff levels to 95 FTE.

Realignment from Annual to No-Year -$7,500,000 / -10 FTE

SIGTARP will fund a portion of its operations from its no-year account.

Efficiency Savings -$3,732,000 / -0 FTE

SIGTARP will seek to reduce non-personnel costs.

Program Increases ........................................................................................+$142,000 / +0 FTE

Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of Prior-year Enterprise-wide Cybersecurity Investments

+$142,000 / +0 FTE

This request includes funding to support O&M for prior-year Cybersecurity Enhancement 

Account investments. O&M will be funded by Treasury Bureaus through Treasury Franchise Fund 

billing. This increase represents SIGTARP’s portion of the O&M total.
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Program Decreases:

SIGTARP has been fiscally responsible in reducing costs and increasing efficiencies by utilizing 

OMB guidance to effectively examine, align, and restructure its workforce and eliminate costs. 

In FY 2018, SIGTARP created immediate and long-term cost savings by eliminating over 

50 percent of headquarter annual rent expenses; reducing senior management levels; aligning 

spending with a reduced workforce; reducing non-government spending; and utilizing government 

sources for goods and services. In FY 2020, over $6 million of the proposed budget (35 percent) 

will be spent on goods and services from the government, more than 95 percent of which will be 

paid to Treasury. 

SIGTARP coordinates with other law enforcement agencies and with other Inspectors General, 

leveraging its unique position and expertise by forming law enforcement and other partnerships to 

create operational efficiencies and realize cost savings. These savings and efficiencies are 

projected to continue through FY 2020.

1.3 – Operating Levels Table

Dollars in Thousands

Special Inspector General for TARP FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020

Object Classification Enacted Annualized CR Request

11.1 - Full-time permanent 15,889 15,079 11,684

11.3 - Other than full-time permanent 1,503 1,588 1,472

11.5 - Other personnel compensation 1,959 1,506 989

11.9 - Personnel Compensation (Total) 19,351 18,173 14,145

12.0 - Personnel benefits 5,649 5,427 3,855

Total Personnel and Compensation Benefits $25,000 $23,600 $18,000

21.0 - Travel and transportation of persons 676 400 300

23.2 - Rental payments to others 207 153 107

23.3 - Communications, utilities, and miscellaneous charges 45 41 34

25.1 - Advisory and assistance services 679 365 90

25.2 - Other services from non-Federal sources 51 44 43

25.3 - Other goods and services from Federal sources 9,243 9,071 6,164

25.6 - Medical care 60 50 45

25.7 - Operation and maintenance of equipment 44 26 0

26.0 - Supplies and materials 303 202 195

31.0 - Equipment 192 48 22

Total Non-Personnel $11,500 $10,400 $7,000

New Budgetary Resources $36,500 $34,000 $25,000

FTE 136 125 95

Note: This table includes all available resources, including SIGTARP's annual appropriation and no-year

funds. The FY 2020 request includes $17.5M (appropriated) and $7.5M (no-year). 
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D – Appropriations Language and Explanation of Changes

Appropriations Language Explanation of Changes

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR THE 

TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM

Federal funds

SALARIES AND EXPENSES

For necessary expenses of the Office of the Special Inspector 

General in carrying out the provisions of the Emergency 

Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–343), 

$17,500,000. 

Note.—A full-year 2019 appropriation for this account was 

not enacted at the time the budget was prepared; therefore, 

the budget assumes this account is operating under the 

Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 (Division C of P.L. 

115–245, as amended). The amounts included for 2019 

reflect the annualized level provided by the continuing 

resolution.

E – Legislative Proposals

PPIP Funds 

The Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) Improvement and Oversight Act of 2009 

(12 U.S.C. § 5231a) provided $15 million in no-year appropriations to SIGTARP for the purpose 

of providing oversight to PPIP and the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. SIGTARP 

does not plan PPIP or TALF activity in FY 2019 and FY 2020. SIGTARP is requesting that these 

PPIP funds be made available to also support SIGTARP’s oversight of ongoing TARP programs. 

This proposed language is identical to that included in the FY 2018 enacted appropriation.

PROPOSED LANGUAGE 

Sec. 128 Notwithstanding paragraph (2) of section 402(c) of the Helping Families Save their 

Homes Act of 2009, in utilizing funds made available by paragraph (1) of section 402(c) of such 

Act, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program shall prioritize the 

performance of audits or investigations of any program that is funded in whole or in part by funds 

appropriated under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, to the extent that such 

priority is consistent with other aspects of the mission of the Special Inspector General.
SIGTARP - 9

Section II – Annual Performance Plan and Report

A – Strategic Alignment

The Investigation budget activity supports SIGTARP’s priority of law enforcement of crimes 

related to TARP, and the Audit budget activity supports SIGTARP as the independent watchdog 

over TARP dollars. SIGTARP’s activities and goals of Justice, Impact, Innovation, and 

Stewardship support and complement Treasury’s FY 2018 – 2022 Strategic Plan goals: (1) boost 

U.S. economic growth; (2) promote financial stability; (3) enhance national security; (4) transform

government-wide financial stewardship; and (5) achieve operational excellence.

SIGTARP’s audit and investigation goals and priorities are driven by independently-identified 

TARP threats and findings of fraud, waste, and abuse. SIGTARP’s goals through 2023 are: 

• Justice - protect Americans through law enforcement’s fight against TARP-related crime; 

• Impact - assess, understand, and counter the most serious risks, threats, and challenges to 

TARP; 

• Innovation - expand the use of technology, virtual information sharing, and data analytics to 

increase the expedited identification of TARP-related crime, fraud, waste and abuse; and 

• Stewardship - ensure TARP programs and oversight proceed responsibly and transparently. 

Justice: As a law enforcement office with 85 percent of its resources focused on criminal 

investigations, SIGTARP strives to bring justice, accountability, and deterrence in the fight against 

TARP-related crimes, including major financial crimes and money laundering. This past year 

SIGTARP continued to support DOJ and state prosecutions of defendants that were investigated, 

and the law enforcement record through FY 2018 stands at 417 defendants charged with crimes, 

and law enforcement actions against 14 major corporations. Justice was achieved when, in 

FY 2018, 14 defendants that were investigated went to trial, 14 defendants pled guilty, and courts 

sentenced to prison 26 defendants that were investigated. Bankers are going to jail. For example, 

in the $330 million TARP recipient Wilmington Trust and the $8 million TARP recipient Sonoma 

Valley Bank cases, courts, after jury convictions, have recently sentenced an attorney and six top 

bank executives such as the CEO, President, CFO, and Controller to years in prison for massive 

financial frauds. These complex financial frauds impact economic stability and confidence in 

financial institutions. SIGTARP investigations have uncovered crimes that led to the failure of 

TARP banks, leaving as victims the bank, the community, and taxpayers who have lost millions 

on their TARP investments. Alignment: Treasury Goals (1), (2), (3) and (4).

Impact: SIGTARP analyzes risks from the most serious and imminent threats to TARP, especially 

as TARP continues to evolve. Treasury continues to allow new uses of TARP and, as recently as 

May 2018, TARP can now be used for lead and asbestos remediation. SIGTARP prioritizes its 

resources and conducts confidential investigations to combat serious threats, the largest of which 

SIGTARP believes is potential wrongdoing by the more than 130 financial institutions that 

continue to receive billions of TARP dollars in the MHA program, including some of the nation’s 

largest. SIGTARP recently achieved the first law enforcement action resulting from SIGTARP’s 

investigations into wrongdoing in the HHF blight demolition subprogram, another top threat to 

TARP. A contractor who was awarded all of the demolition contracts in the HHF blight program 

in Fort Wayne, Indiana, filled excavation sites with construction debris and then falsely billed for 

clean fill dirt. The blighted excavation sites cost an additional $800,000 in remediation to remove 
SIGTARP - 10

the construction debris and fill the area with approved dirt. SIGTARP previously assessed the 

threat of contaminated soil and warned Treasury about it in a November 2017 audit, based on the 

findings of the Army Corps of Engineers. Treasury failed to implement SIGTARP’s 

recommendations in that audit. Alignment: Treasury Goals (1), (2), and (4).

Innovation: SIGTARP achieved an unparalleled record of criminal charges against more than 100 

bankers through innovation. SIGTARP developed an intelligence-based method to find crime in 

banks and deployed similar techniques to find crime in other industries, like the housing, 

foreclosure, and demolition industries. SIGTARP forensic audits catch waste, and have 

successfully caught millions of TARP dollars wasted by state agencies on a Mercedes Benz, 

parties, picnics, steak and seafood dinners, and more. By expanding the use of technology, virtual 

information sharing using central repositories of information, and data analytics, SIGTARP can 

expedite its identification of crime, fraud, waste, and abuse. Alignment: Treasury Goals (2), (4) 

and (5).

Stewardship: SIGTARP stands as the independent watchdog for Americans, ensuring that TARP 

programs operate and spend responsibly. SIGTARP also requires that same standard for Treasury 

and its office. Additionally, SIGTARP seeks to recover dollars lost to fraud, waste, and abuse for 

taxpayers and other victims. SIGTARP strives not to be a burden to taxpayers. Every year, 

recoveries from SIGTARP’s work far exceed its budget, and has a 31X lifetime ROI. Recoveries 

in FY 2018 were $314 million, $294 million of which went back to the Federal government, in 

comparison to its FY 2018 $34 million appropriation. Alignment: Treasury Goals (4) and (5).

B – Budget and Performance by Budget Activity

2.1.1 – Investigations Resources and Measures

Dollars in Thousands

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020

Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Annualized 

CR Request

Appropriated Resources $27,382 $27,295 $32,478 $32,103 $28,855 $28,900 $15,050

Other Resources $5,656 $6,354 $376 $82 $1,311 0 $6,450

Budget Activity Total $33,038 $33,649 $32,854 $32,185 $30,166 $28,900 $21,500

119 115 103 114 106 103 81

 Resource Level

FTE

Measure FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020

Percentage of Cases Accepted for Consideration by Civil or 

Criminal Authorities Resulting in a Positive Final Outcome N/A N/A 77 81 79 70 70 35 

Percentage of Cases Presented to Civil or Criminal Authorities 

within Eight Months of the Case Being Opened N/A N/A 80 80 85 70 70 25 

Percentage of Cases That are Joint Agency/Task Force 

Investigations 76 70 71 75 78 70 70 70 

*The FY 2019 targets are based on an annualized CR. The FY 2019 Congressional Justification included lower targets based on the PB.

Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Target Target* Target
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Investigations Budget and Performance

($15,050,000 from discretionary appropriations)

SIGTARP exceeded all metric targets in FY 2018. The “Percentage of Cases Accepted for 

Consideration by Civil or Criminal Authorities Resulting in a Positive Final Outcome” in FY 2018

was 79 percent, which exceeded the target of 70 percent. The “Percentage of Cases Presented to 

Civil or Criminal Authorities within Eight Months of the Case Being Opened” was 85 percent,

which exceeded the target of 70 percent. The “Percentage of Cases That are Joint Agency/Task 

Force Investigations” with other law enforcement agencies was 78 percent, which exceeded the 

target of 70 percent.

2.1.2 – Audit Resources and Measures

Dollars in Thousands

FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020

Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Annualized 

CR Request

Appropriated Resources $7,219 $6,824 $7,618 $7,530 $5,092 $5,100 $2,450

Other Resources $1,947 $1,069 $99 0 $231 0 $1,050

Budget Activity Total $9,166 $7,893 $7,717 $7,530 $5,323 $5,100 $3,500

45 35 34 27 25 22 14

 Resource Level

FTE

Measure FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020

Number of completed audit products identifying 

waste, abuse, mismanagement, inefficiencies, 

or referrals to Investigations Division (Units)

N/A N/A N/A N/A 6 3 3 1

*The FY 2019 target is based on an annualized CR. The FY 2019 Congressional Justification included lower targets based on the PB.

Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Target Target* Target

Audit Budget and Performance

($2,450,000 from discretionary appropriations)

SIGTARP exceeded its FY 2018 audit performance target of three for the “Number of Completed 

Audit Products Identifying Waste, Abuse, Mismanagement, Inefficiencies, or Referrals to 

Investigations Division,” with six products.

Section III – Additional Information

A – Summary of Capital Investments

SIGTARP has no capital investments. Capital investments that support SIGTARP are included in 

the Departmental Offices’ plan.

A summary of capital investment resources can be found at:

http://www.treasury.gov/about/budget-performance/Pages/summary-of-capital-investments.aspx

This website also contains a digital copy of this document.