Carla Petersen, executive director of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, quit after denounced the Trump administration’s efforts to sabotage the Watchdog Agency after sending a fiery email to her department on Tuesday.
“I served under all directors and acting directors of the bureau’s history, but I have never seen the ability to carry out the core missions that have been under attack,” writes Petersen, who has worked for the agency since its founding in 2011.
The Consumer Bureau, the sole federal regulator and enforcer of the Consumer Financial Protection Act, has been fighting for its survival since President Trump set up White House budget office director Russell T. Vought as agent leader in early February. Congress created the bureau, and only Congress could close it, but Vault halted almost all of its work and tried to fire 90% of its staff. The court order temporarily suspends dismissals, but many of the institution’s staff are on administrative leave.
Petersen became the agency’s executive director after former executive leader Eric Halperin resigned in February after his own harsh email. Since then, Vought has waived and dismissed most of the bureau’s enforcement cases, including major lawsuits against large banks against paying app fraud, as well as deception-sensitive tactics that took away higher interest rates on savings accounts.
He also ended some settlement transactions and allowed businesses to maintain the money they agreed to pay with penalties and customer refunds. Last month’s agent end An order that demanded Toyota to refund $48 million to customers who had prevented the automaker from canceling unwanted insurance products.
“It is clear that the department’s current leadership has no intention of enforcing the law in a meaningful way,” Petersen wrote in his farewell email. “Your wish, but I’m worried about American consumers.”
