HUD Official Quits After Personnel Announcement Gaffe

Oct 22, 2018

Suzanne Israel Turfts, the Assistant Secretary for Administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), resigned on Friday after the incorrect announcement that she was being given a new assignment at the Department of the Interior.

According to a report in The Hill, HUD Secretary Ben Carson informed his Department one week earlier that Tufts would become Acting Inspector General at Interior. However, Interior issued its own statement denying this would occur.

“Ms. Tufts is not employed by the Department and no decision was ever made to move her to Interior,” said Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift in a statement issued on Thursday. “HUD sent out an e-mail that had false information in it.”
Tufts offered her resignation the day after Swift’s statement. Carson offered an explanation that the announcement of Tufts’ move was because of a “recent miscommunication at the staff level.”

Tufts position at HUD required Senate confirmation, which leaves another high-level vacancy at the Department. Interior has not had an Inspector General for nearly a decade, with the role being handled by a Deputy-level official.

About the author

Phil Hall

Link copied

Published

Oct 22, 2018

Wholesale

UWM Ties $603 Million Hedge Loss To Failed Two Harbors Bid

The wholesale lender is raising $2.05 billion and suspending its dividend after the transaction contributed to a sharp quarterly loss and exposed balance-sheet pressure

United Wholesale Mortgage Chairman and CEO Mat Ishbia attributed a $603.2 million derivatives loss in the second quarter to an unusually large hedge established around UWM’s failed pursuit of Two Harbors Investment Corp., calling it a transaction-specific mistake that the co...

Opinion

The Real AI Deadline Isn’t August 6: What Mortgage Executives Should Be Preparing For Next

August 6 was an important contractual checkpoint. The more consequential deadline is the day a GSE, regulator, investor, warehouse lender, or plaintiff asks the institution to produce evidence that its AI governance actually worked

Across the mortgage industry, August 6, 2026, has been treated as the artificial-intelligence governance deadline. Now that the date has arrived, the harder question is what an institution must be prepared to prove on August 7 and every day thereafter.Fannie Mae’s governance...

Sep

San Francisco, CA

More from

Regulation and Compliance

Servicers Begin Testing Systems Ahead of VA Partial Claim Deadline

VA lenders and servicers have until Nov. 28 to implement the new loss mitigation waterfall and Partial Claim Program

Regulation and Compliance

Aug 06, 2026

ROAD Act’s Housing Incentive May Be Too Small To Move Supply

Realtor.com finds the median city risks losing only about $84,000, although the policy could carry more weight in supply-starved Northeast and Midwest markets

Regulation and Compliance

Aug 05, 2026

CRA Proposal Could Reshape Bank Lending And Affordable Housing Investment

The OCC and FDIC would put more weight on lending while easing community development requirements for hundreds of banks

Regulation and Compliance

Aug 05, 2026

Fannie Mae AI Governance Deadline Arrives Aug. 6

Seller/servicers using artificial intelligence in origination or servicing must have formal policies, oversight, and vendor controls in place

Regulation and Compliance

Jul 31, 2026

Condo Review Deadline Puts Lenders On The Clock

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will eliminate abbreviated project reviews for condo applications dated on or after Aug. 3