Senior Interior official violated ethics regulations by holding prohibited stock: Internal watchdog

The No. 2 official at the Bureau of Land Management violated ethics regulations by holding a prohibited stock during her service, according to an internal government watchdog. 

In a new report Tuesday, the Interior Department’s inspector general knocked Nada Culver, the principal deputy director of the nation’s public lands agency, for holding shares of Berkshire Hathaway.

The report said that prior to Culver joining the department, officials gave her a list of prohibited investments, which included Berkshire Hathaway. 

She told officials she did not hold any prohibited investments despite holding shares of Berkshire Hathaway in a joint account with her spouse, according to the report.

Culver did list the shares on a separate financial disclosure form. Upon reviewing that form, an ethics official advised Culver to divest from the company and she did so the same day, in April 2021. 

Culver told the inspector general’s office that she “must not have realized” she owned Berkshire Hathaway when she joined the department.

She recalled “skimming” the list of prohibited investments but she “believed [she] didn’t have any of the holdings.”

The watchdog described her statements as “credible,” but said she still had an obligation to review for and identify any investments she may have owned. 

The Bureau of Land Management deals with energy production on public lands. Berkshire Hathaway owns Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which owns other energy companies. 

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management declined to comment on the report.