The acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Russ Vought, and his team are trying to cover up their plan to shut down the agency by gaslighting employees and courts. Recently issued declarations show that Vought had a clear plan to break up the CFPB, reducing it to just five people in a room.
However, after being confronted with the illegality of their plan in federal court, the leadership is now trying to spin the narrative that employees should have been working all along. Acting chief legal officer Mark Paoletta sent emails to senior management on February 27 claiming that statutory work was authorized, despite actual employees being told to “stand down” until further notice.
The CFPB’s internal emails reveal a transparent effort to create the appearance of statutorily required work taking place when it did not. The leadership is trying to convince the court that the stop-work order on February 10 did not authorize the reinstatement of supervision and enforcement activity, which are statutory functions.
Despite their efforts to cover up the shutdown, the attempt is failing miserably. A judge has called for an evidentiary hearing where Martinez will have to testify personally, citing the likelihood that agency leadership was making statements with “people’s fingers crossed behind their backs.”
The outcome of this case is uncertain, but one thing is clear: if President [President’s Name] wants to stop scams and keep financial predators honest, they should consider supporting a more robust CFPB. With committed professionals on board, the agency can pursue wrongdoers and defend consumers effectively.
Source: https://prospect.org/economy/2025-03-03-cfpb-we-didnt-mean-stop-work-russell-vought