Mr. Eric Phelps currently serves as Acting Counsel to the Inspector General. In this role, he advises the IG on a broad range of legal and policy matters related to OIG investigations, audits, and operations.
Mr. Phelps joined OIG in 2016 as an attorney-investigator. He led investigations of significant fraud, waste, and abuse in billion-dollar FCC subsidy programs and assisted the U.S. Department of Justice with resulting civil actions and criminal prosecutions. Subsequently, as Special Counsel to the IG and then Acting Deputy IG, Mr. Phelps provided legal and operational advice to OIG senior management.
Before joining OIG, Mr. Phelps was an attorney in the Washington, DC, offices of a global law firm for more than a decade. In private practice, he represented multi-national corporate clients in complex civil and criminal investigations. Mr. Phelps also conducted internal investigations and was seconded to a Fortune 50 client’s legal department.
Mr. Phelps is a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia. He received his law degree from The George Washington University and his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Modern European History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.