Top Enforcement Official at US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Resigns Amid Agency Overhaul
Cara Petersen, the acting Enforcement Director at the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), has resigned, citing the White House’s sweeping changes to the agency as making her role untenable.
Petersen, who has been with the CFPB since its inception nearly 15 years ago, criticized the current leadership under President Donald Trump for what she described as a lack of commitment to enforcing the law in a meaningful way. In an email obtained by Reuters, Petersen wrote that the agency’s enforcement capabilities are being systematically dismantled.
“I have served under every director and acting director in the bureau’s history and never before have I seen the ability to perform our core mission so under attack,” Petersen stated. She pointed to “thoughtless reductions in staff, inexplicable dismissals of cases, and terminations of negotiated settlements that let wrongdoers off the hook” as evidence of the agency’s weakening enforcement efforts.
Petersen’s resignation follows the departure of the CFPB’s enforcement and supervision chiefs just four months earlier, during a period marked by aggressive efforts from the Trump administration to curtail the agency’s power.
Under acting Director Russell Vought and chief legal officer Mark Paoletta, the CFPB has sought to cut its workforce by approximately 90 percent. The agency has scaled back enforcement and supervisory activities dramatically, dropping major cases against large corporations such as Capital One and Walmart, and even revising settlements reached under the previous administration.
Republicans have long criticized the CFPB, created in response to the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, arguing that it wields excessive power without sufficient oversight. Conversely, Democrats and consumer advocates maintain that the bureau is vital for protecting consumers and maintaining fairness in financial markets.
In her email, Petersen expressed concern for the future of American consumers, saying, “While I wish you all the best, I worry for American consumers.”
The Trump administration is currently challenging a federal court injunction that prevents the agency from firing most of its staff, with a decision pending from a federal appeals court in Washington.
Neither Petersen nor CFPB officials immediately responded to requests for comment.
Source: Reuters
