Amid a trading scandal that’s forced two regional Federal Reserve bank presidents to resign and raised questions about governance at the U.S. central bank, a public advocacy group has aired concerns about a third regional chief and the job he held before joining the Fed, Bloomberg News reported. In a report titled, “The Other Ethics Issues at the Fed Regional Banks,” the Center for Economic Policy and Research took aim at Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin for his past roles at McKinsey & Co. Barkin held several senior posts at the global consulting firm, including six years as chief financial officer and three years as chief risk officer. The report highlights McKinsey’s history of advising Purdue Pharma LP on how to maximize sales of its painkiller OxyContin, central to a U.S. opioid epidemic that’s cost hundreds of thousands of lives. That led to significant financial and reputational damage to McKinsey after it became the target of lawsuits from all 50 states. Earlier this year it agreed to pay more than $600 million to settle them. There is no evidence that Barkin had any direct involvement in the advisory work with Purdue, but he has declined to answer detailed questions about what his senior roles did involve in terms of supervising McKinsey’s engagement with the drugmaker.
