WASHINGTON — D.C.’s Department of Buildings Deputy Director Caroline Lian, has resigned after an ethics probe found that in addition to her six-figure paying full-time job at the DOB, she also secretly had a second six-figure paying full-time job in the private sector.
According to the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability probe, Lian started working at the DOB in October 2022 as its chief operations officer — a position for which she was paid $149,750 per year. One year later, Lian was promoted to deputy director, which included a raise; her promoted salary was $175,000 per year. In Lian’s position, she typically worked in-office Monday and Friday and from home Tuesday through Thursday.
But Lian had another position — one she’d had since July 2015. She was employed as a third-party risk management director with Freddie Mac, also known as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. She earned another six-figure salary from Freddie Mac, and she worked from home Monday and Friday and in-office Tuesday through Thursday.
On top of both of those jobs, Lian had a third, part-time position. She was elected to serve a four year term on the Falls Church City Council from 2022 to 2025. Her third position paid her $9,200 a year.
Lian did not disclose her second job, according to the probe. In her required public financial disclosure statements for 2022 and 2023 — where she was required to disclose any outside activity or employment that she made more than $200 — she did not report any money she made from Freddie Mac.
And though Lian did disclose her third job on the city council, she reported her time wrong. When she took off for city council meetings on more than 10 occasions, she would report a full day of work for the DOB, instead of using annual leave hours. In 2022, she also underreported her income, saying she only made less than $1,000 from Falls Church, though she did submit an amendment and said that she mistakenly picked the wrong category of income on the form.
The ethics board decided that Lian had violated the code of conduct in four ways. For that, she agreed to pay a fine of $25,000 to the district.
The board said she would be able to pay in installments after paying a lump sum of $17,000 by Aug. 2 and going to an ethics training no later than Oct. 31. But when she resigned, she also resigned to the terms of the settlement, that the full amount would come from her final district government paycheck or from compensation for unused annual leave.
As of Thursday, Council Member Lian has also resigned from her council seat. The city of Falls Church has issued a statement:
“Ms. Lian’s council resignation follows an article in the Washington Post published August 7, describing a finding by the District of Columbia’s Board of Ethics and Government Accountability Office that Ms. Lian had not properly reported outside employment, resulting in her resignation from the District. The Post article prompted the City to review Ms. Lian’s most recent annual Financial Disclosure, known as “Virginia State and Local Statement of Economic Interests.” Upon review, the City discovered that the former council member listed only Freddie Mac as her employer and did not disclose her employment relationship with the District of Columbia. Following procedures set forth by state code, the City has relayed this information to the Commonwealth’s Attorney for investigation,” said Mary Catherine Chase, spokesperson for the City of Falls Church."