TVA Board Member Conflict of Interest Allegation Investigated

The OIG investigated allegations that TVA Board Chairman William "Bill" Sansom's personal financial interests and position at TVA constituted a conflict of interest and that he had a relative who worked at TVA in violation of TVA's nepotism policy. Federal conflict of interest law prohibits federal officials and employees from acting on a particular matter in their official capacity which affects personal financial interests. There was no evidence Mr. Sansom participated in any particular matter as part of his TVA duties which was related to his personal financial interests. In addition to the conflict of interest law, TVA has a policy which prohibits Board members from owning investments in distributors, entities in the electricity business and companies adversely affected by TVA's success. None of Mr. Sansom's financial interests fell into these categories. The nepotism claim was unfounded. The TVA employee in question had the same name as Mr. Sansom's son-in-law but was unrelated.