Treasury Department officials change data they receive from financial institutions that received federal assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to a government watchdog.

In a blistering six-page, single-spaced letter Tuesday to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Recovery Program Christy Romero said her investigators were told by a Treasury official that “Treasury modifies some of the data reported by the financial institutions” for an annual report on how TARP funds were spent.