It’s been a year since former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins resigned amid two scathing federal reports on her alleged misconduct in office, which her replacement said was “a significant blow.”

“I won’t sugarcoat the events that happened. It was a significant blow to the office when those reports came up,” acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said during a reporter’s roundtable in his Boston office Wednesday. “That being said, the tenure of the former U.S. attorney is a smaller dot in the rearview mirror every day.”

In May 2023, two federal agencies released reports finding major faults in Rollins’ ethics.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel found Rollins “committed an extraordinary abuse of her power” by repeatedly violating the Hatch Act — a federal law that limits political activities of certain federal employees to prevent either actual or perceived political influence on a non-partisan office.​​​​”

Another report from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found similar failures: “We found Rollins’s conduct … violated federal regulations, numerous DOJ policies, her Ethics Agreement, and applicable law, and fell far short of the standards of professionalism and judgment that the Department should expect of any employee, much less a U.S. Attorney.”

One such violation occurred on July 14, 2022, when Rollins attended a Democratic Party fundraiser held at a private home in Andover, where First Lady Jill Biden would speak.

The Herald reporter asked Rollins outside the event if she thought her attendance at the party fundraiser would violate the Hatch Act.

“No,” Rollins responded.

Another violation was the finding by both agencies that Rollins attempted to tip the scales in the 2022 race for Suffolk District Attorney, her previous office. Rollins had favored then-Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo for the post over the acting DA, Kevin Hayden, who would ultimately go on to win.

“Rollins’s efforts to advance Arroyo’s candidacy included providing negative information about Hayden to The Boston Globe and suggesting where the Globe could look to find more information,” the OIG report concluded, adding that she had also “falsely testified under oath” by denying she was the source who provided “nonpublic, sensitive DOJ information.”

The Herald received similar information from Rollins but declined to publish it.

The report also said that she had tried to rope in her second-in-command, then-First Assistant USA Levy, to the conspiracy by telling him to write a letter suggesting Hayden was under criminal investigation. He refused.

The reports also found a wide variety of ethical violations, including how she secured tickets to a Celtics game to attending panel discussions in which private organizations funded her travel or stays.

While the reports were damning, and led to Rollins filing her resignation shortly after, Levy said Wednesday that it wasn’t all bad.

“One silver lining in those reports is it really was not focused on the work of the office. It wasn’t focused on pending cases, pending prosecutions. There were a few, but for the most part it focused on external activities,” he said.

“I never envisioned becoming the acting U.S. Attorney into those circumstances, but I did my level best every day to show up, stabilize the office. And I think it’s something the office rebounded from. I think it’s stronger,” he continued. “It gave us even more of a focus on the gravity of our mission.”

He did not address recent Herald reports on exorbitant credit card expenditures Rollins made while Suffolk DA. The DOJ did say they have no records of Rollins using a credit card during her short stint in the federal office.

Rollins is now working part-time for Roxbury Community College, with an annual salary of $80,000.