Former Prosecutor, Ex-FBI Chief Lead Flint Probe

LANSING, MI – Former Wayne County prosecutor and Royal Oak attorney Todd Flood and retired FBI chief Andrew Arena were tapped Monday to lead an investigation into the Flint drinking water crisis, Attorney General Bill Schuette said Monday.

Flood will act as special prosecutor, and Arena will investigate whether any Michigan laws were violated.

By appointing Flood as special counsel, Schuette is following a decades-long practice of attorneys general establishing an ethics-based conflict wall between him and his investigation team, and the tem defending the governor and state departments against Flint related lawsuits.

Schuette has the dual responsibility of representing the people of Michigan, as well as defending the state when sued.

“We will do our job thoroughly and let the chips fall where they may,” Schuette said in a statement. “I have every confidence in Todd Flood, Andrew Arena and our team to work with me on this independent investigation.

“This investigation is about beginning the road back, to rebuild, regain and restore trust in government,” he said.

Flood worked for more than a decade in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, where he worked in the homicide, drug house and trial units. He is now a private practice attorney based in Royal Oak who specializes in both civil and criminal litigation.

Arena was the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office from 2007 - 2012. Arena served the FBI in several capacities in a law enforcement career that spanned more than two decades. He has led the Detroit Crime Commission, a non-profit organization aimed at reducing criminal activity, since 2012.

Lawsuits filed against the governor and the state of Michigan will be supervised by Chief Deputy Attorney General Carol Isaacs and Chief Legal Counsel Matthew Schneider.

An example of a previous “conflict wall” case includes the Detroit bankruptcy. Many other such cases have taken place over the past 54 years during the service of Michigan’s last four attorneys general.