Michael E. Horowitz has been appointed to lead the Federal Reserve Board’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), effective June 30, 2025. By statute, the Federal Reserve’s OIG also serves in that same role for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an agency financed by, but autonomous from, the Federal Reserve. The OIG is tasked with making recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the agencies, as well as preventing and detecting waste, fraud, and abuse.
Horowitz succeeds Mark Bialek, who retired in April, after nearly 14 years as Inspector General. Horowitz has more than 35 years of experience in law, public administration, and investigations. He most recently served as Inspector General for the Department of Justice (DOJ), a position he has held since April 2012. As Inspector General for the DOJ, Horowitz supervised a nationwide workforce of more than 500 special agents, auditors, inspectors, attorneys, and support staff whose mission was to detect and deter waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct in DOJ programs and personnel, and to promote economy and efficiency in Department operations.
From 2015-2020, Horowitz served as the Chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), an organization comprised of all 75 federal Inspectors General. He also chaired a committee of 21 federal Inspectors General to oversee $5 trillion in pandemic relief spending.
Horowitz worked from 2002-2012 as a Partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham, & Taft LLP, where he focused his practice on white collar defense, internal investigations, and regulatory compliance. He also was a Board Member of the Ethics Resource Center and the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics.
Prior to working in private practice, Horowitz served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1991-1999, where he was the Chief of the Public Corruption Unit and a Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division. In 1995, he was awarded the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service for his work on a complex police corruption investigation. Thereafter, he worked in the DOJ Criminal Division in Washington from 1999-2002, first as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General and then as Chief of Staff. He began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge John G. Davies of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and as an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton.
Horowitz earned his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and his Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from Brandeis University.
The Office of Inspector General was established by Congress as an independent oversight authority for the Federal Reserve Board and the CFPB, and carries out its operations pursuant to the Inspector General Act of 1978.
