A whistleblower has filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia Retirement Board alleging that it retaliated against her for saying that the fund wrongly reported investment management fees and was not monitoring private investment agreements.

The lawsuit was filed by Erie Sampson, the fund’s general counsel and ethics counselor, in Washington, D.C. on December 30.

The lawsuit describes a “toxic culture of fear and retaliation” at DCRB and alleged the pension fund had audit and compliance issues, which could be to blame for its staff exodus. The suit also raises questions about how pension funds more broadly report investment fees.

The Washington Post first reported on the lawsuit on Sunday. A spokesperson for the DCRB did not return an email seeking comment. Carla Brown, who is the attorney representing Sampson, was not immediately available for comment.

In the complaint, Sampson alleges that she attempted to address longstanding compliance problems at the fund, specifically inaccurate annual financial reporting, “gross understatement” of investment management fees, a failure to monitor investment agreements, and insufficient HR oversight. Sampson said she raised these issues to the board and executives and eventually filed a whistleblower complaint against the fund. During this time, Sampson had also received multiple federal subpoenas, which she had disclosed to the fund.

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