Latest news with #AmyBermanJackson
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SEC Files to Dismiss Long-Running Lawsuit Against Binance
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moved to drop its long-running lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance on Thursday, without providing an explanation in a court filing. The SEC and Binance filed a joint motion, noting that the case had already been paused while the SEC's new crypto task force worked to "develop a regulatory framework for crypto assets." "In the exercise of its discretion and as a policy matter, the Commission believes the dismissal of this Litigation is appropriate," the joint filing said. "... the Commission's decision to seek dismissal of this Litigation does not necessarily reflect the Commission's position in any other litigation or proceeding." The SEC has not published a framework yet, though lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced their formal bill to define how the SEC and its sister agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, would each oversee digital assets earlier on Thursday. The parties want the case dismissed with prejudice, meaning the SEC would not be able to bring this lawsuit against Binance again in the future. The filing also includes provisions to block Binance or its affiliated entities and executives from filing a suit or complaint against the SEC tied to the lawsuit, which was brought in June 2023 against Binance, and Binance founder Changpeng CZ Zhao. Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who's overseeing the case, previously ruled that the SEC had brought plausible charges against the exchange and allowed most the lawsuit to proceed last year. In a statement, an external spokesperson for said they were "pleased that the SEC fully dismissed its charges against confirming what we have always known — that the company did not violate U.S. securities laws." "Today's news is a major milestone for our company, as putting this matter to rest allows us to focus entirely on growing our business and work on restoring our relationships that were impacted by the SEC," the statement said. "We are excited about the future of and crypto in the U.S. and look forward to continuing to offer access to crypto in the U.S., while maintaining our commitment to compliance and our customers." Thursday's filing just marks the latest withdrawal for the SEC, which already moved to drop over a dozen other investigations and lawsuits. Prior to 2025, the SEC was investigating non-fungible token marketplaces and suing crypto exchanges. Binance was just one exchange the SEC alleged was illegally operating as an unregistered broker, clearinghouse and exchange. Others included Coinbase and Kraken. The SEC's about-turn came after Donald Trump retook office as the U.S. President, appointing Commissioner Mark Uyeda as acting chair and nominating Paul Atkins to be the agency's full chair. Atkins was confirmed and sworn into office last month. Last week, Binance announced it would list USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, a crypto company tied to Trump, some of Trump's children and some of his affiliates. Earlier Thursday, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said during an appearance at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas that some crypto investors should not expect a bailout or government protection if they invest in speculative digital assets. UPDATE (May 29, 2025, 22:08 UTC): Adds additional detail. UPDATE (May 29, 22:45): Adds statement. UPDATE (May 29, 23:05): Adds USD1 note.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal judge blocks Musk team's effort to shutter top consumer agency
A federal court has blocked the sweeping termination of staff at the top US consumer protection agency, a day after the Trump administration moved to axe about 1,500 of the agency's 1,700 workforce, while officials investigate whether the action violated existing judicial orders. The ruling from the judge Amy Berman Jackson put a legal hurdle in front of mass layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on Thursday, which came after a federal appeals court modified – but did not eliminate – an injunction limiting the agency's ability to terminate employees. The administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is unclear whether it will abide by the latest ruling. A handful of divisions have been completely eliminated by the administration, according to court filings, including the office of servicemember affairs, the office of older Americans, and the office of fair lending. Only eight employees remain in the office of consumer response, while the entire team responsible for the CFPB's data storage systems has been terminated. Related: Trump halts construction of big wind farm off New York coast: 'reckless and overreaching' The layoffs, via hundreds of reduction in force (RIF) letters sent on Thursday, are just the latest blow in an ongoing battle over the agency's bleak future. In February, Jackson had ordered a halt to terminations at the CFPB and barred the agency from deleting data or transferring reserve funds except for operational purposes. According to a declaration from an employee who had been laid off, filed under the pseudonym Alex Doe, this week's layoffs were managed by Gavin Kliger, a staffer at the tech billionaire Elon Musk's so-called 'department of government efficiency', or Doge. 'He kept the team up for 36 hours straight to ensure that the notices would go out yesterday (17 April).' That declaration also said that when team members raised concerns about court orders requiring 'particularized assessment' of employees, 'they were told that all that mattered was the numbers'. The staff union immediately filed a motion for an order to show cause, arguing the terminations violate the court's preliminary injunction which prohibited actions that 'would interfere with the performance of the defendants' statutory duties'. 'We started receiving our RIF notices yesterday afternoon and they went out in batches through the evening,' said one CFPB employee who requested anonymity fearing retaliation. 'As a result, large swaths of the work we do, including statutorily required work, won't get done.' Following the cuts, all affected employees will lose system access by 6.00pm local time on Friday, after which they will be placed on administrative leave until formal separation, according to a copy of the RIF reviewed by the Guardian. The senator Elizabeth Warren, who originally proposed creating the CFPB after the 2008 financial crisis, blasted the move. 'President Trump just gutted almost all CFPB staff, so the agency can't do its job of helping Americans who get scammed by big banks and giant corporations,' Warren said in a statement. 'Dismantling the CFPB in the face of a court order blocking an illegal shutdown is yet another assault on consumers and our democracy.' Many have pointed to the influence of Musk, who reportedly placed Doge employees inside the agency and has publicly made a call to 'delete' the CFPB for being duplicative of other regulators. Musk has been accused of being the mastermind behind the shutdown so it could benefit his planned financial services platform, X Money, as part of his social media platform's eventual aspiration to become an everything app. Since its creation, the bureau has recovered over $21bn for defrauded consumers through enforcement actions against major financial institutions, including a $3.7bn order against Wells Fargo in 2022. There has been broad support for the agency, with a September poll from Americans for Financial Reform finding that 91% of voters believed it is important to regulate financial services to make sure they are fair for consumers – including 95% of Democrats and 87% of Republicans. '[It] breaks my heart that they're just erasing so much work and goodwill,' said another laid-off CFPB employee. 'And people all over the country have no idea that the things they count on are disappearing.'
Axios
28-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
The CFPB's life is on the line (again)
A hearing Tuesday in federal court in Washington could determine the fate of the embattled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The big picture: Dismantling the agency puts the stability of the financial system at stake, former officials and consumer advocates say. The CFPB is responsible for key pieces of the mortgage lending process, which ensure the smooth functioning of the housing market. Without the agency, Americans will have less protection from financial fraud. Catch up quick: Earlier this month, the White House fired about 90% of the agency's workforce, effectively gutting it. The move was challenged in federal court, and Judge Amy Berman Jackson blocked layoffs ahead of the hearing. Some of the Trump administration's other actions targeting the CFPB had already been knocked back by Jackson. Where it stands: Both sides of this case filed a flood of documents over the weekend that led her to postpone the hearing to Tuesday from Monday. Mark Paoletta, the chief legal officer at the CFPB, defended the Trump administration's actions: "An approximately 200 person agency allows the Bureau to fulfill its statutory duties." The other side: The plaintiffs, represented by the National Treasury Employees Union, filed 19 declarations from CFPB employees, who say it is not possible for 200 people to fulfill the agency's statutory duties. They say the White House and DOGE did not take care in engineering these cuts, that senior leaders were not consulted about the impact of terminations, and that if the job cuts had not been paused their offices would not have been able to do their work. Zoom out: Eliminating the bureau has been a goal of conservatives for some time, explicitly delineated in Project 2025. The principal author of that plan, Russell Vought, heads the Office of Management and Budget and serves as the CFPB's acting director. The agency's legitimacy was upheld by the Supreme Court in a case decided a little less than a year ago. What to watch: The Senate has put off a vote to confirm President Trump's nominee to lead the agency, Jonathan McKernan.
Los Angeles Times
18-04-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Judge pauses Trump administration's plans for mass layoffs at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
WASHINGTON — President Trump's attempt to fire nearly everyone at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was paused on Friday by a federal judge, who said she was 'deeply concerned' about the plan. The decision leaves in limbo a bureau created after the Great Recession to safeguard against fraud, abuse and deceptive practices. Trump administration officials argue that it has overstepped its authority and should have a more limited mission. On Thursday, the administration officials moved to fire roughly 1,500 people, leaving around 200 employees, through a reduction in force that would dramatically downsize the bureau. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she was worried the layoffs would violate her earlier order stopping the Republican administration from shutting down the CFPB. She's been considering a lawsuit filed by an employee union that wants to preserve the bureau. Jackson scheduled a hearing on April 28 to hear testimony from officials who worked on the reduction in force, or RIF. 'I'm willing to resolve it quickly, but I'm not going to let this RIF go forward until I have,' she said. It's the latest example of how Trump's plans have faced legal hurdles as he works to reshape the federal government, saying it's rife with fraud, waste and abuse. Other layoffs and policies have been subjected to stop-and-go litigation and court orders. The CFPB has long frustrated businesses with its oversight and investigations, and Trump advisor Elon Musk made it a top target of his Department of Government Efficiency. Mark Paoletta, the CFPB's chief legal officer, wrote in a court declaration that 'the bureau's activities have pushed well beyond the limits of the law,' including what he described as 'intrusive and wasteful fishing expeditions.' He said officials have spent weeks developing 'a much more limited vision for enforcement and supervision activities' with a 'smaller, more efficient operation.' Some of the CFPB's responsibilities are required by law but would have only one person assigned to them under the Trump administration's plan. The enforcement division is slated to be cut from 248 to 50 employees. The supervision division faces an even deeper reduction, from 487 to 50, plus a relocation from Washington to the Southeastern region. Before Friday's hearing, attorneys for the National Treasury Employees Union filed a sworn statement from a CFPB employee identified only by the pseudonym Alex Doe. The employee said Gavin Kliger, a member of DOGE, was managing the agency's RIF team charged with sending layoff notices. 'He kept the team up for 36 hours straight to ensure that the notices would go out yesterday,' the employee said. 'Gavin was screaming at people he did not believe were working fast enough to ensure they could go out on this compressed timeline, calling them incompetent.' The bureau's chief operating officer, Adam Martinez, told the judge that he believes Kliger is an Office of Personnel Management employee detailed to the CFPB and doesn't work directly for DOGE. Jackson said she will require Kliger to attend and possibly testify at the April 28 hearing. She said she wants to know why he was there 'and what he was doing.' 'We're not going to decide what happened until we know what happened,' Jackson said. The pseudonymous employee said team members raised concerns that the bureau had to conduct a 'particularized assessment' before it could implement an RIF. Paoletta told them to ignore those concerns and move forward with mass firings, adding that 'leadership would assume the risk,' the employee stated. White House officials did not immediately respond to questions about the judge's decision or the employee's court declaration. Kunzelman and Megerian write for the Associated Press.
The Guardian
18-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Federal judge blocks Musk team's effort to shutter top consumer agency
A federal court has blocked the sweeping termination of staff at the top US consumer protection agency, a day after the Trump administration moved to axe around 1,500 of the agency's 1,700 workforce, while officials investigate whether the action violated existing judicial orders. The ruling from judge Amy Berman Jackson put a legal hurdle in front of mass layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on Thursday, which came after a federal appeals court modified – but did not eliminate – an injunction limiting the agency's ability to terminate employees. The administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is unclear whether it will abide by the latest ruling. A handful of divisions have been completely eliminated by the administration, according to court filings, including the office of servicemember affairs, the office of older americans, and the office of fair lending. Only eight employees remain in the office of consumer response, while the entire team responsible for the CFPB's data storage systems has been terminated. The layoffs, via hundreds of reduction in force (RIF) letters sent on Thursday, are just the latest blow in an ongoing battle over the agency's bleak future. In February, Jackson had ordered a halt to terminations at the CFPB and barred the agency from deleting data or transferring reserve funds except for operational purposes. According to a declaration from an employee who had been laid off, filed under the pseudonym Alex Doe, this week's layoffs were managed by Gavin Kliger, a staffer at tech billionaire Elon Musk's so-called 'department of government efficiency', or Doge. 'He kept the team up for 36 hours straight to ensure that the notices would go out yesterday (17 April).' That declaration also said that when team members raised concerns about court orders requiring 'particularized assessment' of employees, 'they were told that all that mattered was the numbers'. The staff union immediately filed a motion for an order to show cause, arguing the terminations violate the court's preliminary injunction which prohibited actions that 'would interfere with the performance of the defendants' statutory duties'. 'We started receiving our RIF notices yesterday afternoon and they went out in batches through the evening,' said one CFPB employee who requested anonymity fearing retaliation. 'As a result, large swaths of the work we do, including statutorily required work, won't get done.' Following the cuts, all affected employees will lose system access by 6.00pm local time Friday, after which they'll be placed on administrative leave until formal separation, according to a copy of the RIF reviewed by the Guardian. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who originally proposed creating the CFPB after the 2008 financial crisis, blasted the move. 'President Trump just gutted almost all CFPB staff, so the agency can't do its job of helping Americans who get scammed by big banks and giant corporations,' Warren said in a statement. 'Dismantling the CFPB in the face of a court order blocking an illegal shutdown is yet another assault on consumers and our democracy.' Many have pointed to the influence of Musk, who reportedly placed Doge employees inside the agency and has publicly made a call to 'delete' the CFPB for being duplicative of other regulators. Musk has been accused of being the mastermind behind the shutdown so it could benefit his planned financial services platform, X Money, as part of his social media platform's eventual aspiration to become an everything app. Since its creation, the bureau has recovered over $21bn for defrauded consumers through enforcement actions against major financial institutions, including a $3.7bn order against Wells Fargo in 2022. There has been broad support for the agency, with a September poll from Americans for Financial Reform finding that 91% of voters believed it is important to regulate financial services to make sure they are fair for consumers – including 95% of Democrats and 87% of Republicans. '[It] breaks my heart that they're just erasing so much work and goodwill,' said another laid-off CFPB employee. 'And people all over the country have no idea that the things they count on are disappearing.'
