While many today returned to work after the Holiday season, things remained quieter than usual here in the nation’s capital – with many federal workers furloughed until further notice as the federal government continues to be in a partial shutdown. President Trump is reportedly meeting with congressional leaders today ahead of Thursday’s start to a
Earlier today, an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the CFPB was constitutionally structured, reversing an earlier decision by a divided three-judge panel and holding that the Dodd-Frank Act permissibly shields the CFPB Director from removal without cause. The Court’s 7-3 majority opinion only addressed the
Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a warning to celebrities and social influencers who use social media to encourage consumers to invest and/or purchase stocks. Recent celebrity endorsements for investment in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) were highlighted as examples in the SEC’s warning. In the future, if celebrities and social influencers
Last week, the Senate voted 51 to 50 (with Vice President Pence casting the tiebreaking vote) to override the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Arbitration Rule, which was finalized earlier this year in July. As previously discussed here and here, the Arbitration Rule would have prohibited providers of covered consumer financial products and services from
After months of speculation among the consumer protection and antitrust bars, Trump announced today his intention to nominate former Director of the Bureau of Competition and current Paul Weiss partner Joseph Simons as Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Trump also announced his plan to nominate Rohit Chopra, currently a senior fellow at the Consumer
A California jury in federal court ruled on Tuesday, June 20, that TransUnion violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by erroneously linking certain consumers with similarly named terrorists and criminals in the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC’s) database. The jury awarded statutory and punitive damages in excess of $60
Last week the FTC announced that it had reached a settlement with NetSpend over allegations that NetSpend deceived consumers by promising “immediate access” with “guaranteed approval” to money loaded on its general purpose reloadable cards. Approved 2-1 with a vote by then-Commissioner Ramirez before her resignation, the order prohibits NetSpend from making misrepresentations about the
Please join Kelley Drye in 2017 for the Advertising and Privacy Law Webinar Series. Like our annual in-person event, this series will provide engaging speakers with extensive experience and knowledge in the fields of advertising, privacy, and consumer protection. These webinars will give key updates and provide practical tips to address issues faced by counsel.
The FTC recently examined peer-to-peer (P2P) payment systems and crowdfunding in the second forum of its FinTech series. P2P payment systems are online services that allow consumers to share money electronically. These platforms enable the immediate transfer of money between consumers, typically for free or for a small fee. In the panel discussion of P2P
Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a landmark decision against the CFPB, finding that the agency was unconstitutionally structured because it concentrates “enormous executive power in a single, unaccountable, unchecked Director.” However, the court stopped short of ordering a shutdown of the Bureau and instead held that the President “now will have power to remove the Director at will, and to supervise and direct the Director,” severing a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that provided that the CFPB Director could only be removed for cause.
Particularly given that the decision is likely to be appealed, its most immediate impact may relate to the CFPB’s interpretation of its authority to initiate administrative enforcement actions under the Dodd-Frank Act. While the CFPB had argued that there is no statute of limitations for any CFPB administrative actions to enforce any consumer protection law, the D.C. Circuit flatly rejected this argument and held that the Dodd-Frank Act incorporates the statutes of limitations in the underlying statutes enforced by the CFPB.
