6-figure DC exec juggles 3 jobs, including one with Freddie Mac – rips them all off

The former deputy director of the DC Department of Buildings is the go-to girl for explaining why employers don't like their employees working remotely, and she caught up.

Carolina Lian was pulling down $175,000 a year in that position, but clearly, it wasn't enough. I was also working two other jobs…not one after the other, but all at the same time.

He also earned six figures from Freddie Mac and served on the Falls Church City Council from 2022 to 2025.

The DC Board of Ethics and Accountability investigated Lian's employment according to the Daily Mail. The investigation found he had breached the code of conduct in four ways, it said like that. Lian was fined $25,000 and no longer works at any of the jobs she had.

(Video credit: WUSA9)

Lian claimed he made a “clerical error” about the jobs and called the investigation “very petty” according to the Falls Church News-Press.

The timeline of her employment with DC government in the Department of Buildings began in October 2022 when she was hired as director of operations starting at $149,750 a year. She was promoted a year later to assistant director, becoming the second highest-ranking officer in the Department of Buildings. That brought his salary to $175,000 a year.

Lian's obvious downfall was becoming greedy and careless.

“Instead, I worked in the office Monday and Friday, and from home Tuesday through Thursday. But without the government going, I was already working at Freddie Mac, also known as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.” , since 2015. Lian was a director of third-party risk management in the private sector, working from home on Mondays and Fridays and in the office from Tuesday to Thursday,” the Daily Mail wrote.

Unfortunately, he probably wasn't doing anything either. Just surfing during the day.

— Ruby (@thisorthat17) August 8, 2024

“In a third position known to the government, she was chosen to serve a four-year term on the Falls Church City Council from 2022 to 2025, a position that paid $9,200 a year,” the outlet added.

“But on his 2022 and 2023 mandatory public financial disclosure statements, in which city employees must disclose any outside activity or employment where they earn more than $200, Lian failed to report his Freddie Mac income, researchers found,” the Daily said. The mail continued.

He announced his position at the town hall. It is a public position and it would be noticed. However, he reportedly recorded his time incorrectly on at least 10 separate occasions. Specifically claiming that he was at work for his DC position while attending city council meetings.

NBC Washington reported that these incidents included in-person budget meetings on Friday mornings when he was supposed to be working in the Buildings Department. Allegedly, there is a video that proves this happened. He also understated his income in 2022 as less than $1,000 instead of $9,200 a year. Lian would go on to file an amendment claiming she chose the wrong income category on her paperwork.

“I corrected the form, paid the fine and now I'm moving on,” Lian tersely told the News-Press in an interview.

This was not the end of his troubles, not by a long shot.

But then Falls Church city officials said they conducted their own investigation and found that Lian listed only Freddie Mac as an employer and “failed to disclose his employment relationship with the District of Columbia “said a spokeswoman for the city.” noted the Daily Mail. “City officials then referred the matter to the commonwealth's attorney for investigation, and Lian also resigned from his position there.”

The Arlington County Commonwealth's Attorney told NBC Washington that they are working with local law enforcement to conduct another investigation into whether Lian committed fraud in his paperwork for the city. So his problems continue while his work doesn't.

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton is a constitutional conservative who researches and writes extensively on politics and current affairs.

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