WASHINGTON, DC – Jan. 9: Donald Trump’s candidate for the US presidential election is Scott Bescent, founder and CEO of Key Square Group LP, January 9, 2025 at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC I’ll go to a meeting held. . A few weeks before his inauguration, Trump’s candidate for his incoming administration continues to meet with the senators at Capitol Hill. (Photo: Jon Cherry/Getty Images) Jon Cherry/Getty Images/Getty Images North America Hide Caption
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Representatives from Elon Musk’s cost reduction team entered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and gained access to internal computer systems that manage the agency’s HR, procurement and financial systems. publicly. They also managed the station’s social media accounts and locked up career staff.
As of Friday night, the CFPB homepage had an error message.
Over the past few weeks, Musk has hammered CFPB, the watchdog agency that oversees consumer finances. In late November, he “removes CFPB” on his site X on Friday, Musk posted a “CFPB RIP,” but it is clear that there have been cuts and changes to the institution’s staff. there is no.
Three musk agents known as the government efficiency or Doge ministry (Chris Young, Nikhil Rajpal and Gavin Kliger) added to CFPB’s internal staff directory on Friday, according to a union representing the NTEU 335. It was done.
In a statement, the CFPB union said that Musk’s lieutenant joining the government agency is a clear attempt to attack “the only institutions checking payment provider greed and car lenders like Tesla.” “He said. Musk is Tesla’s CEO and runs five other companies.
The union later updated its statement, and the bureau collected and maintained a vast amount of confidential information about individuals and businesses, including banks and other financial institutions, and said, “this legally protected and delicate matter of businesses and individuals.” Please note that we are expressing concern that data will be exposed. It will be used in an inappropriate manner.”
Doge’s actions within the Bureau, first reported by Wired, have led to the fear that Musk could effectively try to dismantle the institution, as Musk aims to do in the education sector and in the US International Development Agency. It’s stirring. The USAID rage was temporarily suspended by a federal judge on Friday.
Representatives from CFPB and Doge did not return requests for comment.
Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent was confirmed as acting director of the CFPB following the shooting of former Head Rohit Chopra.
According to an internal email shared with NPR, when Bessent took over earlier this week, staff members told them to stop all work “unless they’re expressly approved by the proxy director or required by law.” I was done. The email instructed CFPB staff not to launch or resolve enforcement actions.
The CFPB has long been a punch bag among parts of Silicon Valley due to investigations, enforcement measures and fines in Republicans, the banking sector and consumer protection cases.
Wells Fargo agreed to a $3.7 billion settlement with CFPB in 2022 for allegedly using its customers on automobiles and mortgages. The CFPB fined Equifax $15 million over errors related to consumer credit reports for millions of people. And last year, the agency sued Capital One, who alleged that the bank misinterpreted its customers by not paying interest on its savings account, an advertisement.
The bureau ordered Apple and Goldman Sachs to pay a $89 million penalty to miscut consumer contested transactions.
Since its establishment in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the bureau has returned more than $17 billion to consumers, deemed false by the financial company.
Whether Facebook and Instagram owner Meta misused financial data obtained from third parties was under the CFPB microscope.
The agency has also proposed new rules to oversee digital payment platforms, including Apple Pay and Google Pay. Musk’s X is working with Visa to launch its own “X Money” payment system, according to a company that deploys financial services for the platform under CFPB’s supervised.
In Trump’s first term, his acting director, Mick Mulbany, called the agency “a sad joke of illness” and drafted a law to repeal it.
Since Trump took office for the second time, his billionaire supporters in the tech world have stepped up calls for the CFPB to be eliminated. Prominent venture capitalist Mark Andreessen has accused the bureau of “terrorizing financial institutions.” Andreessen is a Trump supporter who helps advise Musk’s efforts to rebuild the federal government using Doge.
