Investigation Found that Former NCUA GC and Deputy GC Drank Alcohol and Went to Strip Clubs During Work Hours

The Inspector General (IG) for the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) launched an investigation that found then-NCUA General Counsel Michael McKenna and then-NCUA Deputy General Counsel Lara Daly-Sims drank alcohol and went to strip clubs during work hours.

According to the report, Daly-Sims and McKenna first started drinking and going to strip clubs during the workday on February 16, 2017. McKenna and Daly-Sims went together to strip clubs seven times over a 22-month period, the last time in December 2018.

Twice during this time period, they drank alcohol heavily during the workday without visiting a strip club.

Daly-Sims said that going out drinking or to a strip club was always McKenna's idea. She commented that she did not like it, but she felt she had to go.

The IG reported that Daly-Sims stated that she and McKenna consumed edible marijuana during work hours while they were on work-related travel in New York City. During the New York City trip, they visited a strip club twice.

In addition, the investigation of Daly-Sims's time and attendance determined that Daly-Sims worked 374 fewer hours than what she claimed on her timesheets for the period of April 3, 2017, through November 9, 2019, which amounted to $46,951.96 in salary that she should not have received. The hours she spent drinking and going to strip clubs with McKenna during the workday was not part of, but on top of, her 374-hour shortage, except for 45 minutes on June 9, 2017.

Both McKenna and Daly-Sims are no longer with NCUA. Daly-Sims resigned on January 10, 2020, while on administrative leave. McKenna retired in November 19, 2019 after being informed by NCUA Executive Director Mark Treichel that he would be drug tested and placed on administrative leave.

On November 25, 2019, the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia declined to prosecute McKenna and Daly-Sims for drinking alcohol and going to strip clubs during the workday.

On January 23, 2020, the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia declined to prosecute Daly-Sims for time and attendance fraud.

Read the investigative report.