IRS Chief Frank Bisignano dismissed reports that he used surveillance software to spy on colleagues during his tenure at JPMorgan Chase.
The allegations target the current head of the Internal Revenue Service and Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, raising questions about the professional history of a top U.S. government official.
During a live interview Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Bisignano addressed a report from The Wall Street Journal. The report alleged that Bisignano used hi-tech software to monitor internal email traffic while working at JPMorgan Chase [3].
Bisignano said the allegations were not true. He described the reporting as "bad journalism" and said, "None of it’s true" [1, 2].
The controversy centers on activities that allegedly occurred more than 10 years ago [4]. The 66-year-old official has now publicly refuted the claim that he employed such surveillance tools against his peers in the corporate banking environment [5].
Because the allegations originate from a report by The Wall Street Journal, the dispute pits the word of a high-ranking government executive against the findings of a major financial publication. Bisignano used the CNBC platform to ensure his denial was on the public record, specifically targeting the credibility of the source [2].
“"None of it’s true."”
The denial reflects a conflict between institutional reporting and personal testimony regarding executive conduct. As Bisignano oversees two critical federal agencies—the IRS and the Social Security Administration—allegations of surveillance, even those dating back more than 10 years, could potentially be used by political opponents to question his ethics or suitability for roles involving sensitive data oversight.
