Housing Finance Agency Chief Melvin Watt Accused of Sexual Harassment

The director of a federal agency is accused of making "unwanted advances" toward a woman who worked under him three years ago.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Melvin Watt was on Capitol Hill Thursday to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee in response to claims made by Simone Grimes.

"Director Watt made multiple unwanted advances toward me," Grimes said, according to Roll Call. "The frequency of these advances ... led me to begin recording many of our interactions."

Grimes said the incidents started in 2015 when she went to Watt about how she was being paid less than her predecessors in the same job. Watt, she claimed, responded by offering her other jobs and said he had "an attraction" to her.

Grimes ultimately made 15 recordings of conversations she had with her former boss.

The hearing failed to garner much attention in the media because of a simultaneous hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee with Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and a woman who has accused him of sexual assault 36 years ago.

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