Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the Ranking Member on the House Financial Services Committee, and Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi demanding answers about the Trump Administration’s latest maneuver to cripple the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) through the wholesale transfer of the Bureau’s active enforcement cases to the Department of Justice, in an apparent effort to abandon defrauded consumers, shield powerful financial institutions from accountability, and evade ongoing court oversight.

“Reports indicate that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is transferring all of its active litigation—no fewer than thirteen cases—to the Department of Justice (DOJ) as part of Acting Director Russell Vought’s ongoing effort to shut down the agency. That transfer raises urgent questions about whether DOJ intends to continue these cases at all or simply intends to dismiss them, leaving defrauded consumers in the cold and letting lawbreaking financial institutions off the hook,” wrote the Ranking Members.

The CFPB is the first and only federal agency devoted exclusively to protecting consumers from predatory and fraudulent financial practices. Since its creation, it has returned $21 billion to more than 205 million consumers harmed by megabanks, payday lenders, and other financial institutions.

Far from bolstering the American public’s preeminent line of defense against corporate cheats, the Trump Administration has taken an axe to the agency, swiftly announcing mass reductions in force to completely hamstring the Bureau’s operations.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson granted a preliminary injunction blocking the mass firings and halt of operations in late March. Rather than comply, CFPB leadership now appears to be racing to hollow out the agency by exporting its core enforcement work to DOJ while the courts decide whether the Administration’s attempt to dismantle the Bureau is even lawful.

Thus far, the Administration has voluntarily dropped at least 22 pending enforcement actions this year, with notable dismissals including an action against Capital One for allegedly cheating customers out of more than $2 billion in interest payments on savings accounts, and a case against Zelle for allowing fraudsters to thrive on the platform and cheat Americans out of more than $870 million. Consumer advocates estimate that the abandoned cases would have returned more than $3 billion to victims, while other moves to undermine the CFPB and consumer protections have likely cost consumers more than $18 billion.

“Your shady maneuverings make clear that you and the President do not care about protecting American consumers from fraudsters and predatory financial institutions,” concluded the Ranking Members.

Accordingly, the Ranking Members are demanding that Attorney General Bondi produce documents and communications related to the case transfers, including any coordination with the White House and plans—or lack thereof—for staffing and prosecuting the cases.

Click here to read the letter.

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