TARP inspector general Neil Barofsky on Monday gave notice that he plans to leave the Treasury Department by the end of March.
In his 1,000-word resignation letter he said his work as IG of the Troubled Asset Relief Program "helped quench American taxpayers' thirst for information on the expenditure of their tax dollars."
Passed in the fall of 2008 while President Bush was in office, the original TARP legislation allocated $700 billion in taxpayer funds to help stabilize the nation's financial system. (None of the funds have been used to bolster Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.)
Barofsky, a former assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Southern District of New York in lower Manhattan, was nominated to the post by Bush.
As IG he was critical of decisions made by administration officials, including their bailout of American International Group, the largest writer of credit default swap contracts.
As IG, Barofsky oversaw a staff of 140 auditors, investigators and attorneys.
