A woman who claims Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt sexually harassed her is expected to appear at the same House committee hearing as Watt on Thursday.
Simone Grimes, a special adviser with the housing regulator, has been invited to appear before the House Financial Services Committee as part of an agency oversight hearing.
Grimes claims that Watt, a former Democratic congressman and member of the committee holding the hearing, made advances towards her and blocked a raise when she rebuffed him. She’s currently suing the agency for $1 million, and a separate investigation stemming from an internal complaint is already the subject of a federal inquiry.
In an email, the committee’s Republican spokesperson, Sarah Flaim, said that staff had been in touch with Grimes’s attorney, and that she was meeting with committee staff to present her claims prior on Tuesday afternoon in anticipation of the hearing. The committee has tentatively invited Grimes to testify, and she is expected to accept. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the committee, separately invited Grimes to testify.
The news was first reported by Politico.
Watt, a 2014 Obama appointee who is close to done with his five-year term, oversees the $5.4 trillion in mortgage securities held by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a majority of the U.S. housing finance market. He has denied the charges brought by Grimes.
FHFA did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment on Tuesday.
